Erstwhile Impressions
by bloggerofmywords
Summary: They lived different lives and were worlds apart before they crossed paths. Before they became heroes. / Or: The origin stories of Serenity "Ren" Logan and Autumn Pines. Installment 0.5 of the Influence Series. [Previously titled: It's All Led Up to Now.]
1. Ren: Part I

**A/N: UPDATE 1/21/16.**

**Hallie: Hey! So, I've decided to revise Ren's "backstory" to make it a more fluent read from When Shadows Meet the Mind [which I HIGHLY recommend you read before this]. I have also improved as a writer and Ren had improved as a character.**

**I also want to mention that compared to Autumn, Ren's chapter's aren't much of a backstory. They are more like snippets of her life leading up to season 1 (and a bit after).**

**Not all of it is revised at the moment, but as I do more, her chapters will be updated. :)**

**I do not own Young Justice. I do own Ren, Josh, and Creatonia. Please review if you enjoyed the story or have any feedback!**

**Enjoy. :3**

* * *

February 11, 2000

"What?" Bruce Wayne stared at the man in front of him.

"I know this may come as a shock to you, but Joshua and Marie Logan have been pronounced dead due to a car crash." The police officer at the front door wore a grave expression on his face.

"W-when did this all happen?" Bruce acted like he couldn't wrap his head around the news.

"About twenty-four hours ago. I was told to contact you because you were put down as the children's new guardian."

"Wait, what?"

"You were put down to become their children's new guardian if anything was to happen to the both of the parents. Is this correct?" The officer's eyebrows furrowed.

The billionaire pretended to snap out of a daze, "Wha-? Oh. Yes, that is correct."

The police officer regained his composure. "Good. Of course, this will have to be all confirmed by a judge in court later. But, it shouldn't be much of a hassle. I will have to ask for you to come with me down to the hospital."

Bruce plastered a confused expression on his face, "The hospital? Why?"

"So you can check the children out."

He widened his eyes, "Ren and Garfield are in the hospital? They were in the car crash?"

"Yes, but don't worry. They both were very lucky. The girl only suffered from minor bruising."

"What about Garfield, the three-month-old boy?" Bruce's protective glare burned into the officer. l

"He is also fine. A little worse off, with some cuts and a bump to the head. But, he will recover fully very quickly," he answered immediately.

Bruce sighed with relief, knowing that the injuries were all faked by Josh, "Good. That's good."

The police officer shuffled his feet awkwardly, "Well… shall we go? T-to the hospital?"

"Yes. Let's go."

* * *

Ren looked around the sterile white room. She had been lying there, unmoving but awake, for over two hours. To her right were a nightstand with a glass of water, a window looking out on Gotham City, and a chair with a young, tired looking nurse sitting in it. The nurse's name was Laura, and she had been watching Ren for over six hours. Since Ren was only two and a half years old, she couldn't be left alone in the hospital room.

The nurse had the doctors come in and check on the girl multiple times, for she found it odd that a toddler would just sit in silence for so long. The doctors just told her that she was probably just trying to wrap her tiny mind around the tragedy that had just occurred.

In fact, it was quite the opposite. Ren was trying to stay calm.

She knew exactly what had happened to her parents. She knew they were dead from the second the car hit the oncoming semi-truck, and she saw her father's neck snap and the piece of glass stab into her mother's chest. From that point on, Ren tried to think of anything else, as she was very aware that if she dwelled on the memory too much, her powers would go berserk.

She wasn't your average toddler. From the time she could talk, she was told to remain calm. To control her powers. Serenity Logan was Creatonian, and that meant she had the power to manifest her imagination. Anything she imagined could become a reality.

Her father was Joshua Logan- also known as Image, a superhero with powers very similar to hers. Ren was born with more Mental Energy-which regulated how powerful a Creatonian was- than her father. Her little brother, Garfield, seemed to show no signs of having any powers at all.

It wasn't unknown for Creatonians' to have no powers. Her mother, Marie, did not possess the power to manifest her imagination. Her father said that the Creatonians that were powerless- dubbed Myopics- were usually shunned upon. Her mother was apparently disowned by her entire family, due to being abnormal. Josh had fallen in love with her anyways.

A knock on the door had broken the nurse out of her tired daze. She stood up and opened it, to reveal Bruce Wayne and the police officer.

"May I help you?" The nurse asked in an overly sweet voice.

The police officer stepped forward, "Yes. I'm Officer Johnson, and this is Bruce Wayne. He is going to be the child's-"

"Ren's," Bruce corrected. "Her name is Ren."

The officer looked at the businessman in annoyance but corrected his mistake. "Ren's new guardian. Along with the newborn, Garfield."

The nurse smiled, "Of course, come in." She stepped aside and the two men entered the small room.

Bruce nearly froze when he saw his goddaughter, even though he was aware it was a ruse. Her tiny, fragile body was surrounded by the large sea of white. He walked over to the young girl.

"Hey, Princess. How are you?" Bruce watched as Ren broke out of her deep trance to look up at him with empty, sorrowful eyes. The billionaire mentally scolded his best friend for leaving his daughter in such a state.

"I know they're gone. The people keep saying that I don't. I do, but I don't know why. Why are mommy and daddy gone, Uncle Bruce?" Tears filled her green eyes.

Pain tugged at Bruce's heart as memories of his parents death came rushing back to him. "I don't know Princess. I really don't know. Sometimes, we may never find out why things happen to us. They just do."

Ren crawled over to the man leaning over her bed and threw her arms around him. Tears began to make their way down her face. He returned the little girl's embrace, being used to the little girl's affectionate ways.

They remained in that embrace for what seemed like an eternity, before Ren's breathing slowed as she fell into sleep's hold. Bruce laid her back down and pulled the covers over the girl's body. He then stood up and looked at the police officer.

"May I speak to you, outside?"

The officer looked at the man in surprise, before nodding and exiting the room. Bruce followed.

"What do you wish to speak to me about?" Officer Johnson asked as Bruce Wayne shut the door behind him.

"Who was it?"

"What do you mean?"

Bruce glared at the man, "I mean, who was the driver that killed Joshua and Marie? Who is the idiot responsible for Ren's parent's death?"

"Dead."

"What?"

"The man, Ryland Maxwell, who was driving the truck, was also killed in the accident."

Bruce dropped his glare. "Oh. Well, then… Sorry."

Officer Johnson just gave him a sympathetic smile, "It's alright. I can understand how you would be upset at all of this. It is a typical reaction."

Bruce had an urge to shake his head at the ridiculousness of the situation. The public facade he was forced to put on- not the he wasn't used to it- was complex to say the least. He had to make sure there were no cracks in his mask.

* * *

Bruce took a week from being Batman to get Ren and Gar used to the new situation. Alfred was in charge of the children when he was out.

Ren had always known of her father's superhero persona, so she was not too shocked to find out that her godfather was Batman when she was 4. Image had informed the entire Justice League of Ren's powers and had gotten permission for her to go into the Watch Tower when she was old enough to begin training.

Batman decided, since she was now over four years old, this was a good enough time as any. Even though she was young, her powers needed strict training for her to gain control.

* * *

July 16, 2001

Ren found herself standing in front of a huge tube located in the Batcave. She had been informed that it was called a zeta tube which was used for transportation by the Justice League. Today was the day she was being shown the League Headquarters to being her official training.

"Ren, first things first: we need to give you a new identity." Batman looked down at the little girl, whose eyes were still filled with amazement.

"Identity?"

"Yes. We need to give you a hero name and look."

Ren began to rack her mind for a name and what she wanted her appearance to be. She kept thinking back to one of her favorite movies and an idea popped into her mind.

"How about Fantasia?"

Batman nodded, "Fantasia. It works."

He walked over to the zeta tube, and entered in Fantasia, with the designation code of B01. When he turned around, he saw the four-year-old in a whole new appearance.

He was proud of the girl for changing her hair color to a light pink and her eye color to violet, which concealed her identity. Her blue and gold uniform also fit her well.

She looked up at him, "Is this alright?"

Batman gave her a slight smile, "It's good. Do you think you're ready to see Mount Justice?"

She nodded eagerly.

"Consider yourself privileged, Fantasia. Usually, only full members of the Justice League get to enter."

Batman led her to the zeta tube, and they both stepped in.

Recognized, Batman. 02. Recognized, Fantasia. B01.

* * *

Fantasia and Batman stepped out of the zeta tubes and into the central area of the Cave. Superman, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter were standing near one of the holo-computers, deep in conversation. The three Leaguers turned when they heard the computer's voice, staring at the Creatonian with surprise.

Superman walked over to the duo,"Batman, who is this?"

"You three remember how Image informed us of his daughter's powers and requested for her to be allowed into Mount Justice for training, correct?"

Manhunter nodded, "Of course."

"Well, this is Serenity Logan, his daughter. But, she goes by Fantasia now." Batman gestured to the girl.

She looked up at the adults, "I like going by Ren, though. When I'm not here, I mean."

Superman stared at her, "I thought she had red hair."

Fantasia looked up at the Kryptonian, "I did, Mr. Strongman. But, I used my powers to make it pink. Batman said I needed to make myself look different."

Batman gave an amused smirk at Fantasia's nickname for Superman, "Fantasia, this is Superman."

Her eyes widened in amazement, "Wow. I like Mr. Strongman better, though. So, that is what I'm going to call you."

Superman sighed, somehow knowing that the nickname would never really go away.

Batman then introduced her to Martian Manhunter, now called the Green Giant, and to Wonder Woman, now called Queenie.

Fantasia wandered around, her eyes filling with wonderment as she looked around the cavern. Batman make his way over to her, "Quite a view, huh?"

"Yeah," She glanced up at him. "When do I start training?"

"As soon as you think you are ready. Martian Manhunter will be training you in controlling your powers while I will help you with hand-to-hand combat."

"I-I think I'm ready."

"Are you sure? Because once you start, there's no turning back."

"I'm sure."

"Alright then. We will set up a training schedule for you to follow. You will enter Mount Justice by using the zeta tube in the Batcave. You won't need me to accompany you every time."

Fantasia nodded, "Alright."

"I'm glad you understand. I do believe Martian Manhunter is ready for you two to begin."

* * *

April 1, 2006

As Ren gained more in control she grew more powerful. Now at the age of seven- almost eight as she loved to point out- Ren was very skilled in martial arts and was able to use her powers more to her advantage.

Garfield had even found his set of powers. He seemed to have had his DNA mixed up, with his mother being a Myopic and his father having a regular set of Creatonian powers, allowing him to imagine himself as any animal and become that animal. He had also begun to train with Ren, taking up the hero persona of Beast Boy.

Ren had woken up feeling happy and whole, because Bruce was going to take her and her brother to the circus.

Ren got ready and ran to wake up her little brother, telling him to hurry, or they would be late. Once Gar was ready, they bounded down the stairs to eat breakfast. Ren plopped herself down at the table to be greeted with a stack of chocolate chip pancakes. She gobbled them up fast, as did her little brother. Bruce entered the kitchen to find Alfred watching the two children with an amused eye.

"They're certainly scarfing down their food," Bruce chuckled.

Alfred smiled, "I think they are just excited for the circus you are taking them to today."

Bruce put on a mock-surprised expression, "You mean… That's today?"

Ren's head snapped up, "Uncle Bruce! You did not forget!"

Bruce Wayne shook his head with mirth, "No, I remembered. It's not like you haven't let me forget about it for even a moment."

All Ren had been talking about the entire week was going to Haly's Circus. The circus was the main attraction for the Wayne Charities Benefit Performance, and since Bruce Wayne was the guest of honor, he thought, why not bring the kids?

* * *

Bruce Wayne held the hands of the kids as they walked to the circus tent that was presenting Haly's Circus.

"Ooo! Ooo! Uncle Bruce! What are the Flying Graysons?" Ren jumped up and down all while pointing at a poster that had a picture of an acrobatic family on it.

He just smiled at her and said, "The Flying Graysons are the main attraction for the circus. They are a family of trapeze artists."

"Huh? What are trapeze artists?" She stared at Bruce with a confused face.

"That means they are people who do gymnastics all while swinging from ropes."

Her eyes widened. "Woah."

Bruce chuckled and led the amazed little girl to their seats.

Ren sat on her Uncle Bruce's right and Garfield to the right of her as the circus began. She giggled at the clowns, stared in awe at the elephants, and was amazed by the lion tamer. Then came the part she was waiting for- The Flying Graysons.

The family consisted of John and Mary Grayson, their nine-year-old son Richard, Karla and Rick Grayson, and their teenage son John.

Ren's eyes followed the family as they flipped through the air. She mostly directed her attention to the youngest boy; it amazed her that someone of his age could do such incredible things. She was on the edge of her seat when the ringmaster announced that they were about to do their grand finale, and all without a net. Mary and John were doing their part of the trick while Richard stood on one of the platforms.

He looked out into the audience, and his eyes locked with Ren's. Blue met green, and Ren swore that she felt a connection.

Richard's eyes converted back over to his parents, who were just about to bring him into the act. Then the unspeakable happened. To this moment, Ren is still shocked at what she witnessed on that fateful day.

All she remembered was the silence leading up to Richard almost being brought into the act.

The snaps of the wires as they dislodged from their hooks.

The screams of the Grayson family as they plummeted to their demise. The screams of the onlookers as they witnessed the tragedy. The screams of the little boy, who watched as his parents, aunt, uncle, and cousin became victims of gravity, knowing that he could have done nothing.

And the crunch of the bodies that hit the Circus floor. The crunch that signaled the death of the Graysons. The crunch that would haunt the minds of Ren, Richard, Bruce, and Garfield for years to come.

* * *

Ren sat quietly next to her Uncle Bruce. She was dressed in a simple dark blue dress- she refused to wear anything black.

They were attending the funeral of Mary, John, Karla, and the younger John Grayson because Bruce paid for the service. The only survivor of the fall was Rick Grayson, who was now in a coma with a fractured spine.

Garfield was left at home, due to him being terrified of anything that is dead. Ren kept her eyes locked on the young acrobat. Rain was drizzling all around them, making the event, even more, depressing.

Ren hated rain and snow. God, how much she hated snow. She really disliked any form of precipitation.

The service was quite small and quiet. One by one the guests went up to pay their respects to Mary and John and their condolences to Richard. When everyone else was gone, and Bruce and Ren were the only ones left, Bruce walked up to Richard.

Ren stayed back, trying to find ways to busy herself. After about five minutes she saw her Uncle Bruce leave Richard's side and talk to the Social Service worker who was looking after the boy. Ren sucked in her breath and slowly walked up to Richard.

Richard looked out of the corner of his eye to see a little girl standing next to him. "What? Are you here to tell me how sorry you are for my loss?"

"No. I'm not feeling sorry for you."

"What?"

Ren realized how harsh that must have sounded, and corrected herself. "No. What I mean is, I don't feel sympathy for you. I empathize with you."

"Empathize?" Richard echoed, slightly surprised at her choice of words.

"It means… I get it. To an extent," she gave the boy a sorrowful glance. "My parents are gone too."

"R-really?"

"Yeah… Everyone says that I don't remember it since I was only two and a half. But, I do. I remember every single detail of that day."

"What happened?"

Ren looked over at Richard in confusion, "You really want to know?"

He nodded.

"I-I'm not sure this is the best time for me to tell what-"

"Please." Richard quietly interrupted.

Ren sighed. "If you're sure?"

He nodded again.

Ren swallowed. "Well… It happened on February 11. Mom and Daddy had just taken me and my little brother Garfield, who was three months old at the time, ice skating. We were all driving home, Gar and I were in the backseat. He was asleep, but I was wide awake. It started to snow really hard, and soon it turned into a blizzard. I remember seeing bright lights coming towards the car. It turned out to be a semi-truck that had hit a patch of ice.

"It hit the car head on. I remember seeing flames burst up from the hood as soon as the crash happened. I knew mommy and daddy were gone when I saw my dad's neck snap, and a shard of glass pierce my mother's chest. I don't know how Garfield and I came out with only some bumps and bruises, but we did. I was able to get myself and Gar out of the car before it totally burst into flames. I'm really not sure how I was able to do that at two and a half, but I did. Uncle Bruce then took us in."

"Uncle Bruce? You mean… Bruce Wayne?"

Ren nodded, "Yeah. He's my Godfather. He and my daddy were best friends. He takes good care of Gar and me."

Ren looked over at Richard, whose eyes had begun to fill with fresh tears. She put a hand on his shoulder. "I know it hurts. And it's going to hurt for a long time. It might not be okay right now but in time… things will start to look up. With the right people in your life, they will help you through this."

Richard shook his head, "You don't understand. My parents, my aunt, my cousin- they were the only family I had. I don't have anyone. All except for Uncle Rick, but he's in a coma. I'm going to be put in some orphanage and be told to fend for myself!"

Ren's heart lurched at the boy's pain. She turned his head so blue connected with green. "Maybe you won't have to go through this alone."

With that, she pulled him into a tight hug. She could feel the heart-wrenching sobs rack the boy's body. Slowly, they sunk into a sitting position- Ren holding a sobbing Richard as rain poured all around them.


	2. Autumn: Part I

**A/N: Emu: Part 1 for Autumn's backstory. I do not own the world of Thanagar. I do own Autumn, her parents, and Gavina. **

* * *

Eight-and-a-half year old Autumn Pines glanced around at her larger classmates cornering her. These hawk Thanagarians were so much bigger and stronger than herself, and loved to show her; up close and personal.

She shot a desperate, but futile look at the teacher, who was at her desk reading, quite obviously turning a blind eye at the mistreatment of the tiny little owl girl.

"Help me! Somebody HELP ME!" Autumn cried in a vain hope as her attackers closed in on her, wishing yet again that she had been allowed to keep the staff her parents had given her with her at school. She knew calling for help wouldn't work- it never did. She sent a glare at the teacher and the few students who were ignoring the event instead of joining in.

The girl looked up. _No room to fly; even with my tiny wingspan and quite unimpressive height of 3 and a half feet, the ceiling is too low. In other words, I'm completely trapped._

She backed up more, but her wings hit the wall, and she slid down it, staring up with wide eyes, teeth clacking together in agitation. The boys and girls above her gave a malicious grin, looking towards the largest for the signal.

He nodded, and the torture began.

Autumn curled into a ball as her classmates began kicking her in the stomach, crying out when someone pulled her black, brown-streaked hair and another pulled her legs, forcing her to straighten out.

The fists and the feet continued to pummel her, but the girl was pleasantly surprised that they didn't start plucking her feathers out this time.

"Freak!"

"Unwanted!"

"Mutant!"

"Ugly little waste of space!"

"Puny, stupid dwarf!"

"Shrimp with wings!"

"You're nothing but hawk food!"

The insults pecked at her like tiny little beaks, eating away at her. _So they actually put their brains to it and found some new insults. _

As the torment continued, she held back a hiss and a chuckle-rattle urged forth by her ancestral screech owl instincts. She knew it would only make it worse.

The owl girl glanced at the clock.

_Just two minutes left. Surely they won't stick around when they can leave. Just two more minutes, two more minutes... hurry up you stupid clock!_

The clock seemed to slow down to the girl. When one classmate got tired, another stepped up to take over. They were only seven or eight and hadn't started combat classes yet, so their hits weren't very effective in power or placement, but if school was teaching them anything, it was how to construct sentences correctly and, in this case, painfully.

Finally, the bell rang with a loud, "_BRRRIIIIINNNGGGG!"_

'_Bout time!_

The group forgot all about Autumn and dispersed, grabbing their stuff from their desks and chatting happily with each other. Disturbingly, a few casually wiped blood drops from their knuckles.

One or two of the students shot the girl a sympathetic glance, many glared at her, and some ignored her, but Autumn didn't see. As soon as she was able, she had curled back into a shivering ball, pulled her wings over her face and sobbed as quietly as she could. Every hitch of her breath pulled at her bruised ribs, already bandaged from the day before.

Quickly, she felt around for injuries.

_Ribs are re-bruised, possibly a sprained ankle, and they obviously pulled a few hairs out- that might call for a mild headache later. No damage to wings- for the most part, I've just gained a few more bruises and scrapes. Not the worst._

She jumped when she felt a hand stroking her feathers and parted her wings just enough to look up.

Standing in front of her was a tall, brown-haired-and-winged Thanagarian hawkgirl she had seen staying out of the fight hovering above her, worry in her expression. Autumn quickly stopped sobbing and angrily swiped away the few tears that had fallen.

"What, are you gonna call me a freak too?" She asked.

The girl shook her head, shuffling awkwardly. "No, I just wanted to know if you were ok."

"Oh." Autumn wasn't used to this. In her mind, it had to be a trick, but she went along with it, keeping a sharp eye out for betrayal. "I think so. I've gotten used to this, as you've probably seen." Standing up slowly, she hid her pain and covered it with a glare. "Tell me; what's it like watching a fellow Thanagarian get beat by her own classmates for no reason?"

The other girl winced. "I'm new here. I didn't want to get on anyone's bad side."

Autumn rolled her eyes sarcastically. "So instead, you stand _off _to the side. Great idea, you got on someone's bad side right away." Her ribs gave a twinge and despite her best efforts to hide it, she couldn't help but cry out softly and lean against the wall, breathing slightly heavier than normal.

The frustration that had been building in the other girl's eyes vanished immediately, replaced with the worry from before. She reached out to help, but was met by a sharp, "Don't touch me!"

When the pain dissipated, Autumn straightened up and limped slowly to the door, grabbing her bag as she went. She sent a glare at the teacher as she passed her desk and stuck her tongue out. _Thanks for the help, oh Great Protector of the Students. _

When she was in the hallway, her owl-like hearing picked up fast footsteps coming from the classroom. She turned around and was faced with the same brown-haired girl from before.

"Don't-"

Autumn was interrupted. "After what I just saw, I don't expect you to trust me. But just... let me help you."

Autumn gaped for a second, but quickly closed her mouth and nodded, taking the offered supporting arm.

"My name's Gavina Skylark. What's yours?"

Autumn jerked her amber eyes from the floor to meet Gavina's blue-eyed gaze for a split second, quickly returning them to the floor.

"Autumn," she said softly.

"Autumn..." Gavina whispered, tasting the name on her tongue. "That's a nice name," she finished at a normal volume.

They walked in silence for a few more minutes before Autumn's ribs twinged again and she had to stop, somewhat doubled over and holding an arm protectively in front of her injury.

She felt a hand on her chin, gently forcing her to look up into Gavina's eyes. "Let me take a look."

Autumn decided to test her luck and nodded.

A few seconds later, Gavina had lifted Autumn's shirt and caught sight of the bandages. She gasped. "This has happened before?"

"Yesterday. And the day before. And the day before that... and the day before that... and the _year _before that-"

She broke off as Gavina's arms encircled her. "I am so sorry. I promise, tomorrow I won't stand by."

_Uh-huh, sure, _Autumn thought as she stood stiffly in the other girl's embrace. But what she said was, "Thank you." _Glad I practiced my "convinced and gracious" voice._

Gavina gave her a warm smile, and Autumn drowned a spark of anger at the obvious pity in her eyes. She didn't like being pitied.

"Let's get you to your parents, then," Gavina said as she helped Autumn half-limp, half-hop her way to where her parents were waiting.

Rima and Alon Pines had been waiting anxiously in the parking lot for their daughter. When they saw her, they rushed over quickly, sending a suspicious look at Gavina until Autumn gave a tiny nod.

Rima immediately took over from Gavina. "Thank you," Autumn's mother told her gratefully.

Gavina nodded, and turned to leave. "See you tomorrow Autumn!" she called over her shoulder, shocking the owl girl.

"Erm... see ya," she replied, quiet and unsure. Gavina caught it and smiled.

* * *

As soon as they got home, Alon and Rima had Autumn sit on the couch and Rima started carefully inspecting her for injuries. Autumn sighed. "I'm fine mom, just a few more bruises and scrapes and maybe a sprained ankle. They didn't even pluck any of my feathers this time!"

The owl girl looked so happy at this fact that she really shouldn't have had to fear in the first place. Her parents hid their sad sighs with smiles and engulfed their little girl in a hug.

Autumn smiled and nestled her face into her mom's red-brown feathers, then into her dad's darker brown ones.

Meanwhile, her parents were having a silent conversation.

"_How can that teacher let this keep up? I know for certain she doesn't treat her other students like this." _Alon read in Rima's expression.

"_Well, we've talked to her about it before. What else can we do but give her as much happiness at home as we can? We didn't ask for this, and neither did Autumn, but the most we can do is make the most of it and hope that one day, life will get better for the owls, and do our best to help in the meantime," _Alon returned.

Rima nodded and heaved a small sigh. "_You're right. And maybe that girl will help her. God knows Autumn doesn't need someone else turning on her. It's happened too many times already."_

This time Alon nodded, then glanced back at his wings. His wife got the message and nodded with a small smile.

Together, they unfurled their wings and wrapped them around their family of three. Autumn giggled as their feathers brushed her shoulders, enjoying this moment away from the prejudice of her world.

* * *

Autumn got up the next morning and groaned. _Another school day. Yippee._

She went through the morning routine and flew to school with her dad, who gave her a hug goodbye and reluctantly left.

Autumn walked with a slight limp down the halls and through the door to her classroom, head bowed, black and brown hair falling over her eyes.

"Hey, Autumn! Sit over here!"

Autumn's amber gaze shot up to see Gavina waving and pointing at the seat next to her.

She couldn't help it. Autumn let out a smile and went over.

Plopping down semi-gracefully, she turned to the brown-haired hawk Thanagarian. She then asked the one word question that could mean so much. "Why?"

Gavina just stared back as though the answer was obvious, and to her it was. "Because you need a friend."

Autumn blinked. Then she blinked again and casually reached up to pinch her arm. Hard. "Ow! Okay, not dreaming then..."

Gavina laughed, and Autumn joined in hesitantly even though she wasn't certain why they were laughing.

The rest of the day was uneventful until the last fifteen minutes of class where, as usual, the kids were free to do anything but leave the room. They ganged up on Autumn again, but this time the group didn't even get in a punch before a loud, authoritative voice yelled, "CUT IT OUT! NOW!"

They all jumped and whipped their heads around, prepared to retaliate against whoever dared interrupt their punishment of the class freak, but they shrunk back as they met Gavina's fierce ready-for-battle glare. The girl was drawn up to her full height, towering above many of her classmates, her arms crossed and her face set in a scowl.

The owl girl stared at Gavina for a second before scrambling to get to her. She stood next to her and tried her own glare, but, while it was a very good glare, the effect was sort of diminished since the girl standing next to her was at least a foot taller.

The group muttered different apologies and reluctantly returned to their seats, all sending glares at Autumn behind Gavina's back. But Autumn ignored them in favor of her new friend.

Staring up at her, Autumn said eight words she never thought she would ever get to string together into a sentence. "You wanna come to my house after school?"

"I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind."

Autumn grinned happily and Gavina joined in with a hint of mischief in her eyes. "My mom would love you. You're so adorable!" She said, ruffling Autumn's short, black and brown hair.

Autumn huffed and crossed her arms. "I am _not_ adorable!"

Of course, this just had the effect of making her look more like a little-er kid, and Gavina chuckled.

"If you say so."

When the bell rang, Gavina met up with her mom, a tall women with humongous goldish-brown wings and eyes and hair to match her daughter's.

When Gavina asked excitedly if she could go to Autumn's house, she conveniently "forgot" to mention that she had _owl _wings.

Overjoyed that her daughter had made a friend so quickly, Gwendolin Skylark said yes immediately.

Gavina ran over to the Pines family, grinning. Gwendolin chuckled as she turned and left. After she was gone, Gavina and Autumn celebrated for a minute before they all took off.

* * *

Arriving at the Pines' house, Autumn immediately went to grab some stuff and told Gavina to stay there. That's when the hawk girl took her chance.

"Mr. and Mrs. Pines?"

"Honey, you can just call us Rima and Alon," Rima told her. Gavina nodded, but there was a worried light in her eyes that made Rima frown. "What's wrong?"

Gavina took a deep breath. "It's... it's my parents. Listen, I'm sorry, but they hate owls. We can't let them see Autumn's wings. We can't let them hurt her."

Autumn's parents exchanged glances, then turned back to Gavina.

"We trust you to help us keep her safe."

Just then, Autumn came running back in, grinning.

"Come on, Gav, let's go outside!"

Gavina smiled back and said, "Right behind you!"

With one last look back at Rima and Alon, she followed Autumn outside and into the sky.


	3. Ren: Part II

**A/N: UPDATE 1/26/16**

**Hallie: The second part of the revision had been completed. Since this starts to get into the first couple episodes, I tried to add a bit more Ren in there, so it wasn't like people were reading something they knew before. **

**This only covers like the first half of the first episode, so I will certainly try and change things up as I get further along.**

**I do not own Young Justice or any of their dialog. I do own Ren, her father, and Creatonia. **

**Please review if you enjoy or have any feedback. Thanks! :D**

* * *

A few days later, after some painful hours in Social Services and then picking up Ren from school, Bruce was pulling up in front of Wayne Manor. The only difference was that Richard was in the car with them since the billionaire had taken the boy in as his ward.

Ren couldn't have more pleased; in the short time she had known the boy, she had become very fond of him. When she and Richard stepped out of the car, his jaw dropped. Bruce smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Welcome home, Dick." And then he walked into the mansion.

Ren looked at Richard in confusion, "Dick?" She quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's my nickname. Most people call me that. I like it a lot better than Richard."

"Dick. Uhg. I don't like that. I'm just gonna call you Richard for now until I can think of a better nickname for you."

He rolled his eyes, "Fine. But, only you get to call me that."

Ren smiled, "Sounds fair to me. Come on, I will show you around."

* * *

Two nights later, Ren was awoken by someone screaming bloody murder. She shot up from her bed and looked at her clock.

2:37 am.

Uncle Bruce would still be on his nightly patrols, and Alfred would be asleep. Gar could sleep through anything and if he was awake, he wouldn't scream- even if it was a nightmare. Whenever her brother got scared, he would quietly get up and go to Ren.

The only reasonable person that came to mind was Richard. She hopped out of her bed and made her way to the room across the hall. She opened the door a crack and slowly crept in.

"Richard? Are you okay?" She whispered.

No one answered.

She turned on the bedside lamp to find the eight-year-old boy, still asleep, but clearly in the midst of a nightmare. He kept muttering things in his sleep.

"N-no. Mami. Tati. P-please."

Ren crawled up onto the bed to shake the young boy awake, "Richard. Richard! Wake up!"

He shot up from the bed, breathing heavily and covered in sweat, "W-what? Where am I? Where are my parents?"

Ren's face grew grave, "You're in Wayne Manor, Richard. Y-your parents are gone. Remember?"

Dick looked up at her with disbelief, "N-no! NO! They can't be gone! They just can't. It's not fair. It's just not fair!" The young boy's voice cracked as he burst into tears.

Ren quickly gathered the boy into a tight, yet comforting, embrace, "You're not alone, Richard. You will never be alone. I won't let you be."

Dick's sobs slowly subsided, and he looked up at the girl with tear-filled eyes. He sniffed, "H-how do you know?"

The Creatonian maintained eye-contact with him, "Because, I will always be there. I promise. I will never leave you. You won't lose me."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I promised and I never, ever break a promise."

Dick gave her a small smile and curled into Ren's protective embrace. There was something about her that told him he could trust her word.

Soon, he fell victim to sleep's calming hold. It didn't take long for Ren to follow his lead. The two were sound asleep, so they didn't hear Bruce checking up on Richard, to find the two kids curled up together. He smiled, somehow knowing that Dick was going to be just fine.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, it was soon discovered that Ren had the best luck with calming Dick down after a nightmare or a memory lapse of his parents. The two began to form a close bond. Though, Richard sometimes wondered where Ren disappeared to for hours at a time.

The two kids found out that they had quite a bit in common, getting along very well.

One thing that Richard didn't quite understand was why Garfield kept avoiding him at all costs. When Richard entered a room, Gar left. During any meal they all ate together, Garfield barely said a word. And when Dick did try to talk to him, he would say little to nothing and then run off. He quickly grew tired of this behavior and brought it up to Ren.

"Oh, that. Well, Gar is just a bit nervous about… Setting you off."

"What do you mean?"

"He's afraid he will bring up something that will remind you of your parents and that you will yell at him or something. Gar really hates being yelled at."

Gar could be the most outgoing child, but despised the idea of people being upset with him. Ren would try to convince him that he couldn't worry about that all the time.

"I'm not going to yell at him." Dick thought it was ridiculous that he would think such a thing.

Ren smiled, "Then tell him that. Talk to him."

"Every time I do, he just runs away."

"Then tell him he won't hurt you and that you won't hurt him."

He sighed, but got up and went to find the small boy. Richard found him huddled up in his room playing with his Superman and Flash action figures.

"Hey, Gar."

Garfield looked up from what he was doing with big blue eyes, recoiling into himself at the sight of Dick.

The Acrobat bent down to his level, "Hey, Gar, I'm not going to hurt you or yell at you. You aren't going to set me off. We both live here now. We will have to get used to each other."

Gar looked up at him, "You don't hate me?"

Richard's face grew a confused expression, "Why would I hate you?"

"I-I don't know…"

The elder boy chuckled, "Well, I don't hate you. Alright?"

Gar's timid expression changed to a joyous one, "Okay! Hey, Dick, you wanna play superheroes with me? You can be the Flash!"

Dick smiled and nodded. Taking the action figure being handed to him, he sat down next to the five-year-old. He saw a sliver of red hair in the corner of his eye. Turning, he saw a grinning Ren, who gave him a thumbs up and then, walked off.

He was going to like it here.

* * *

Time went on, and Dick found out about Batman, becoming Robin soon after. His reasoning: to avenge the murder of his parents. Bruce had found out that Tony Zucco was responsible for the death of the Flying Graysons, allowing Dick to get some closure on the tragedy.

When Ren was ten and Dick was ten and a half, they began to train with the other three proteges: Aqualad, Speedy, and Kid Flash. Even though Ren didn't have a specific mentor, she was the protege of Image, so she trained with them anyways.

Batman told her to keep her quiet about her having access to the JLA's new Headquarters, the Watchtower, and the Hall of Justice. Mount Justice had been compromised after the Joker infiltrated it in 2006.

Batman said that when the three boys got to see the Hall of Justice, then she could tell them about have access to the Hall- not the Watchtower.

Dick and Ren both grew very close to Kid Flash- who they later found out was named Wally West. They became a trio of trolling nerds. Dick being the computer geek and mathlete, Wally was a science prodigy, and Ren held her own in most subjects, but excelling in the creative and performing arts.

Ren's passion became music and writing, which allowed her to express her emotions in a safe way, contributing to the control she had over her powers.

Ren and Dick had become bound at the hip, and the staff and peers at their school knew better than to separate the duo.

* * *

July 4, 2010

Today was the day.

The day that Robin, Kid Flash, Speedy, and Aqualad would finally get to see the Hall of Justice. Fantasia was beyond excited, for she hoped it meant her friends would be able to hang around the Hall more often. She would willingly spend her time there, but also tended to get bored when she was all by her lonesome.

She had practically begged Batman to allow to her to help give the tour. The Creatonian was elated when he said yes.

The boys were surprised to find out that Fantasia had been given access to the Hall before them, but most of them understood why after she explained it was for training. Though, she couldn't help but feeling the searing glare Speedy was giving her throughout the entire tour.

"And of course-" Martian Manhunter began, as the entire group walked into the final room.

"The best place in the whole Hall: the Library!" Fantasia interrupted.

Flash smiled at the young heroes, "Make yourselves at home."

Robin and Kid Flash flopped down in two of the chairs while Aqualad quietly took a seat. The Creatonian stayed standing up and listened as Batman expressed his concern towards the attacks of the four different Ice Villains. He told the younger heroes that they would be going to have a brief meeting to discuss it and that they wouldn't be long. The Watchtower scanner began to scan each of the Leagues.

_Recognized Batman. 02. Aquaman. 06. Flash. 04. Green Arrow. 08. Martian Manhunter. 07. Red Tornado. 16._

"That's it?!" Fantasia jumped as the teenaged protege of Green Arrow snapped at the older heroes. "You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass!"

"It's a first step. You have been granted access few others get." Aquaman calmly stated in replied to Speedy's outburst.

"Oh really?" Speedy made a significant gesture toward the large glass window above them, which allowed civilians to look inside. "Who cares which side of the glass we're on?!"

Green Arrow took a few steps forward towards his apprentice. "Roy… You just need to be patent."

"What I need… Is respect." Speedy bitterly muttered as he turned toward his friends. "They're treating us like kids. Or worse, like _sidekicks_. We deserve better than this!"

Fantasia, Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad all gave each other wide-eyed looks. There was something about Speedy that always put her off. She didn't hate the guy, they just never saw eye to eye. She felt like he overstepped his boundaries sometimes; the "sidekicks" did get respect in her opinion, but to earn more respect and trust, they had to respect and trust their mentors.

Although she had to admit, she did admire his independence and bold attitude. He just needed to learn when to keep his mouth shut.

Speedy looked taken aback, "You're kidding, right? You're playing their game? Today was suppose to be the day. Step one in becoming full-fledged members of the League!" As he spoke, Speedy's voice grew louder and filled with more anger.

"Well sure… But, I thought step one was a tour of the HQ?" Kid Flash questioned.

"Except the Hall isn't the League's real HQ!" As Speedy said this, the Leaguers faces became filled with surprise, as did the young heroes.

"I bet they never told you! It's just a false front for tourists and a pitstop for catching zeta-beam teleporter tubes to the real thing: an orbiting satellite called the Watchtower! Don't believe me? Ask her!" Speedy pointed towards Fantasia. Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash all turned towards her.

"She has had access to the Hall of Justice and the Watchtower since she was four years old."

The Creatonian crossed her arms, "Actually, it was Mount Justice since I was fours years old. I wasn't given access to the Watchtower until it was complete. Also, the access I have been granted was requested by my father because of my powers. I am allowed in the Watchtower for training purposes only. As soon as training is done, I leave."

Speedy glared at her, "And you come here! Even so, she still saw the Hall of Justice before us, and she isn't even the protege of anybody!"

"Yes, I am. His name was Image unless you forgot about that."

Batman stepped forward, "That's enough of that. Fantasia's access was requested by her father. The rest of the League agreed to ensure her own and others safety while training." He then turned and shot a look at Green Arrow.

"I know… But, I thought maybe we could make an exception?" Green Arrow asked hopefully.

The Dark Knight hardened his glare. Green Arrow frowned, "...Or not."

Aquaman advanced himself towards Speedy, "You are not helping your cause here, son. Stand down, or-"

"Or what!? You'll send me to my room? And I'm _not_ your son. I'm not even his…" Speedy nodded his head to Green Arrow. "I thought I was his partner. But, not anymore." The young archer took this yellow cap off and threw it onto the ground.

Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash all stared at Speedy with shocked expressions. He turned around and began to walk away. "I guess they were right about you three…" The mentioned trio all stood up.

"You're not ready." And just before the sliding doors opened, Speedy threw one last envious glare Fantasia's way. She sighed, not enjoying the outcome of what was happening.

As soon as the doors closed, all of the screens lit up green with an incoming transmission. Superman popped up on the largest monitor.

"Superman to Justice League. There has been an explosion in Project Cadmus. It's on fire."

Batman walked up to the monitor. "I've had my suspicions about Cadmus. This may present the perfect opportunity to-"

Another incoming transmission interrupted Batman, "Zatara to Justice League." Zatara popped up in a little box underneath Superman.

"Wotan is using the Amulet of Aten to block out the sun. Requesting full League response."

Batman looks up at the Kryptonian. "Superman?"

"It's a small fire. Local authorities have it under control."

"Then Cadmus can wait." Batman pressed a button on a large keyboard. "All Leaguers rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates. Batman out."

By this time Robin, Kid Flash, Fantasia, and Aqualad had all gathered around the monitor as well. Batman turned and faced them. "Stay put."

"What? Why?" Robin exclaimed.

Aquaman stared them down, "This is a League mission."

"You're not trained-" Flash started to say.

"Since when?" Kid Flash interrupted.

"I mean you're not trained to work as a part of _this_ team," Flash corrected himself.

"There will be other missions when you're ready." Aquaman tried to reassure the young heroes.

The Creatonian asked, "Do you ever plan on teaching us how to be ready?

"Yes, but for now: Stay. Put." Batman narrowed his eyes at the four teens standing in front of him.

With that Batman, Red Tornado, Flash, and Aquaman began to walk away. Green Arrow turned to Martian Manhunter. "You glad you didn't bring you-know-who?"

"Indeed." The two final Leaguers followed their colleagues.

Kid Flash scoffed, "When we're ready?! How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like… sidekicks!"

Aqualad stared the floor like a rejected puppy, "My mentor. My king. I thought he trusted me."

"Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics. They've got a secret HQ... in SPACE!" Kid Flash shot his hands towards the ceiling.

"What else aren't they telling us?" Aqualad questioned.

"I have a better question… Why didn't we leave with Speedy?" Robin replied.

Aqualad and Kid Flash looked to the ground, before Kid's head snapped up. "No, I have the _better_ question. Why didn't Fantasia tell us that she had complete access to the Hall and Watchtower since she was four?!"

Aqualad and Robin turned to look at the only girl in the room. She gave all three of them a hard look, "Again, the Watchtower wasn't around when I was four and because I was told not to."

"By who?" Robin questioned.

She stared at him like he was an idiot, "By Batman. And unless you three want to go and question _his_ motives, I would drop the subject. Honestly, though, I wanted to tell you guys. Really I did."

Robin stepped forward and placed a hand on Fantasia's shoulder, "Hey, it's fine. If you were told not to say anything, you were told not to say anything."

Fantasia smiled at her best friend. Kid Flash playfully scoffed, "Dude, stop flirting with your girlfriend."

The Boy Wonder tumbled back, becoming flushed. "S-she's not my girlfriend."

Fantasia blushed and looked away, "Shut up, Wally."

Aqualad stepped forward, "Hey, what is Project Cadmus?"

Robin narrowed his eyes, "Don't know, but I can find out."

Robin walked over to the giant computer monitor and began to type away at the keyboard. Aqualad, Fantasia, and Kid Flash gathered around the thirteen-year-old hacker.

_Access denied. _

"Hehe. Wanna bet?" Robin hit a few more keys, brought up a folder and began to hack into it.

"Woah… How. Are. You. Doing that?" The speedster asked in amazement.

Robin grinned. "Same system as the Batcave." Fantasia chuckled at the Boy Wonder's giddy confidence.

_Access granted._

The folder opened to reveal Project Cadmus. "Alright, Project Cadmus: genetics lab. Here in D.C. That's all there is, but Batman's suspicious. We should investigate."

"Solve their case before they do. It would be poetic justice." Aqualad smiled.

"Hey. Heh- They're all about justice." Robin joked.

Aqualad sighed, "But, they said to stay put…"

"For the blotting out the sun mission. Not this!" Robin pointed out, finding a loophole.

"Wait, ar-are you going to Cadmus?" Kid Flash turned the Boy Wonder towards himself. "Because if you're going, I'm going!" The two best friends turned to Aqualad with shit-eating grins on their faces.

"Just like that. We're a team on a mission?" Aqualad questioned.

"We didn't come for a playdate." Robin countered.

Aqualad smirked. Kid turned towards Fantasia, "Princess, you in?"

Fantasia stepped forward, "Hold on, let me get this straight. You three plan to go against direct League orders, break in a scientific lab, and try to solve a crime when you don't even know what the crime is or what you might be facing? And you want to know if 'I'm in'?"

Robin looked confused, "Well… Yeah."

She was silent for a few moments, acting as if she was weighing her options, before exclaiming, "Hell yeah I'm in! Are you crazy? You have idea how boring it is around here sometimes."

Her three companions grinned at her. Today was the day.

* * *

The heroes arrived at Cadmus to find firemen attempting to put out the blazing flames. Just as two scientists fell out of a window due to an explosion, Kid Flash ran over and caught them before they hit the ground. He threw them up onto the roof, before slipping and grabbing onto a ledge.

One of the firemen looked up and exclaimed, "It's what's-his-name. Flash Boy!"

"It's Kid Flash! Why is that so hard?" The speedster muttered to himself.

Robin, Aqualad, and Fantasia watched him from the ground.

"Soooo smooth." Robin commented.

"Does he always have to run ahead?" Aqualad complained.

Fantasia shrugged, "He's a speedster. What do you expect?"

"We need a plan. We need-" Aqualad continued, before realizing his teammates were gone.

"Robin? Fantasia?" He looked around before hearing the Boy Wonder's infamous cackle.

Robin had swung himself on to the firetruck and then onto the building. He then jumped into a window and leaned over to pull Kid in. Fantasia had used her wings to fly herself into the burning construct. Aqualad propelled himself up with his water powers to rescue the scientists from the roof. Entering the building, he found Robin hacking into something.

"Appreciate the help." Aqualad muttered sarcastically.

"You handled it. Besides, we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?" Robin replied.

The Creatonian looked up from where she was watching Robin doing his hacking, to see Aqualad going to look around. She and Kid Flash followed Aqualad, catching up just in time to see the elevator finish closing.

"There was something in the-" Aqualad started.

"Elevators should be locked down." The speedster observed.

Robin jumped out from behind Fantasia and ran ahead of them all. "This is wrong."

She came up behind him, "Wrong? The building is on fire, of course, it's wrong!"

Robin pulled up his holo-computer, "Not what I mean." He typed a few things in. "Thought so. This is a high-speed express elevator, it doesn't belong in a two-story building."

"Neither did what I saw." Aqualad commented. He walked towards the elevator and used his strength to pry the doors open. He looked down to see what seemed like a bottomless pit.

"And that's why they need an express elevator." Robin muttered. He shot his grappling hook at the ceiling and started to slide down it, Kid Flash and Aqualad followed. Fantasia imaged her wings, flying down to join them.

"I'm at the end of my rope," Robin commented after a short amount of time. He and the other two boys swung over to the elevator door's ledge while the Creatonian kept hovering in mid-air. Robin hacked into the security system to bypass it.

"Go!" Robin exclaimed, and Aqualad pried open the doors. The fours teens walked into to find themselves in a creepy-looking hallway. Kid Flash sped ahead to check out where exactly they were.

"Kid… Wait!" Aqualad called after him, but it was too late. Kid Flash had already run straight into a herd of huge, alien-like creatures stomping down the hallway. He got knocked to the ground but was able to move out of the way before any of them turned him into a yellow and red pancake. He ran back to his friends.

The four teens stared in awe as the enormous creatures paraded past them. Each of them had little monkey-like creature sitting on their heads.

"Noo… Nothing odd going on here…" Aqualad muttered.

"What the hell are those things?" Fantasia wondered aloud.

* * *

In another part of Cadmus, a male scientist with a brunette ponytail was partaking in genetic experimentations. He took some liquid in an eye-dropper and placed it into a test-tube filled with a crystal. As soon as the reddish liquid hit the solid material, it disintegrated, turning the entire tube of liquid a glowing blue. He smiled at his success, looking over to see the door to his lab opening.

"Dr. Dezmond," spoke a man in the doorway.

"Tell me Gaurdian, what part of no interruptions do you not understand?" The doctor placed the test-tube into a containment device filled with tubes just like it.

Guardian informed the doctor about a security breach, reporting four intruders. He was told to go and investigate.

Robin was able to hack open another door to let the four heroes through.

* * *

"Okay, I'm officially whelmed," Robin commented. The doors opened to reveal an entire room filled with blue tubes that had odd-looking white creatures in them. They each had six legs, glowing backsides, and had a very angular shape to them. It seemed that the huge glowing orb in the middle of the room was pulsing electricity into them.

"This is how they hid this massive underground facility from the world. The real Cadmus isn't on the grid; it generates its own power with these… things. Must be what they're bred for," Kid Flash deducted from what they have observed so far.

"Even the name is a clue. The Cadmus have created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the Earth." Aqualad added.

"And this Cadmus created new life too. Let's find out why." Robin walked over to a computer and hacked into the information base. All while this was happening, Fantasia kept looking around at the all the creatures.

'_Poor things. It must be awful being locked up like this,_' Fantasia thought.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Robin's voice, "They call them genomorphs. Oh! Look at the stats on these things." He clicked from picture to picture, bringing up a different creature each time, "Super Strength, Telepathy, razor claws- these are living weapons!"

"They're building an army." Kid mused.

Fantasia leaned over Robin's shoulder, "But why and for whom?"

"Wait, there is something else! Project KR. The file's super crypted. I can't-"

"DON'T MOVE!" A voiced boomed from behind them, interrupting Robin. The four turned to see Guardian and a group of genomorphs coming towards them. "Wait… Robin? Aqualad? Kid Flash? Fantasia?"

Robin smirked, "At least he got your name right."

"Hey! I know who you are. You're Guardian. You're suppose to be a hero!" Fantasia exclaimed while taking a step forward.

"I… do my best."

The speedster came to stand next to her, "Then what are you doing here?"

"I'm chief of security. You're trespassing." Guardian put his hands on his hips in a dominating fashion. "But, we can call the Justice League and sort this out."

"You think the League's going to approve of you breeding weapons?!" Kid Flash yelled at him.

"Weapons? What do you-" Guardian started to say before the genomorph on his shoulder turned and looked at him, and his little horns glowed red. "What have I- Uhg." He put a hand to his head like he was in pain. "My head…"

His eyes snapped open, "Take 'em down hard! No mercy!"

Just as the genomorphs were about the reach the teens, Robin flipped over them and threw down a smoke bomb.

The genomorphs still began to attack. Fantasia flew above the genomorphs, but they were able to latch on to her anyway. She imagined that she was able to blast energy from her hands, using her temporary power to zap off any oncoming genomorphs. She saw Aqualad and Kid Flash running around a corner and followed. Around that corner they found Robin, hacking into the security system.

"Way to be a teamplayer, _Rob_." Kid Flash scolded the Boy Wonder.

Robin looked over at him, "Weren't you right behind me?" Robin was able to get the elevator door open. He and Kid Flash ran in and turned around to see Fantasia and Aqualad racing towards them, with genomorphs right on their tail. Aqualad flipped in while the Creatonian barely made it in, almost getting her wing caught in the elevator doors. The doors closed, blocking all genomorphs from getting to them. The teens looked up at the floor counter to see the numbers getting higher.

"We're going down?" Aqualad questioned.

"Dude! Out is up." Kid Flash exclaimed.

"Excuse me? Project KR is down, on sublevel 52." Robin replied.

"Yeah. Aren't you at all curious as to what the hell that might be?" Fantasia added in, backing her friend up.

Aqualad sighed and walked to the other side of the elevator, "This is out of control. Perhaps, we should contact the League."

The three other teens directed their attention to the floor. Then the doors opened to reveal red glowing tunnels, with what looked like blue eggs in them.

Robin and Fantasia raced forward. Kid Flash looked over at his aquatic companion, "Well, we are already here." And with that, he ran off to join the others. Aqualad sighed.

What had they gotten themselves into?

* * *

The heroes stopped when they found themselves at a fork in the path.

Fantasia looked over at the boys, "So, which way do we go? Creepy red tunnel or its brother, equally creepy red tunnel?"

"Halt!" They all turned to see a tall, pale blue creature standing on two legs with glowing red horns. It used telekinesis to throw some barrels in their direction. They exploded on the wall behind them. Robin threw a bat-a-rang at him, but he deflected it, before sending more barrels their way. Missing because the teens were already on the move.

Kid Flash ran ahead and ended up hitting an African-American female scientist coming out from a metal door that read "Project Kr" in green. The other three caught up to him just as Kid put a large metal canister in between the doors to keep them open long enough for the four of them to get in.

"Hurry!" He cried out.

The four rushed into the room and just as the genomorphs and Guardian were about to reach them, Aqualad kicked the canister out from the door.

"I disabled the door. We're safe." Robin said.

"We're trapped." Aqualad corrected.

"Um… Guys? You'll wanna see this." Robin and Aqualad turned around to see Fantasia and Kid Flash staring at something in utter shock. The speedster pressed a button that lit up the containment unit in front of them.

"Woah." Robin gaped in awe.

The containment unit was transparent with letters "Kr" written on it in grey letters. Inside the unit was someone that looked like a younger version of Superman. He was wearing a pure white unitard with a red Superman symbol on his chest. Above him sat three of those monkey-like genomorphs.


	4. Autumn: Part II

**A/N: Emu: I own nothing from Young Justice or the DC universe. I only own my OC Autumn, her parents, Gavina, and Gavina's parents. Enjoy!**

* * *

The next few months that followed were the best of Autumn's life so far. She had a friend, and the beatings at school had lessened a bit with Gavina at her side, only occurring when Gavina wasn't there and even then not being so bad that they would be noticeable when she returned. She still got glares and whispered insults, but those were cancelled out by Gavina's grins and the jokes the two made together.

It was also very lucky that Gavina was so good in combat class, as her parents, Gwendolyn and Phoenix, never saw any need to meet the Pines other than a few phone calls and maybe a lunch date. They knew that if Gavina got into trouble, she could easily beat her way out.

The few times they actually saw Autumn, Gavina made sure to cover her wings one way or another- a backpack for school, a cape for a game, making sure she was always facing her parents and giving her the reason of it being polite, etc. Any way she could to keep her friend safe, without adding more fear onto her shoulders.

Without letting her find out how cruel her parents were.

Then one day, it all went downhill.

* * *

Gavina had just been chatting about random stuff to her mom, who was making dinner and only half listening. Then, she let something slip.

"Autumn's started calling me Cooper. You know, like a Cooper's Hawk.

"Hmm-mm, that's nice dear," Gwendolyn answered absentmindedly, nodding in greeting to Phoenix as he walked in.

"I'm trying to think of a name for her," Gavina continued. "What do'ya think of Pygmy?"

Gwendolyn jerked her head up and Phoenix whipped around from where he had been leaving the room.

"Like... like a Pygmy _owl_?" Her mom asked, her words deadly calm and her eyes narrowed.

"Yeah!"

Phoenix cleared his throat, narrowing his eyes too. "Why Pygmy?"

"Because she's so tiny! Oh man, she'd hate me so much for that." Gavina grinned, imagining it, before Phoenix coughed again to regain his daughter's attention.

"Is there another reason?"

Gavina realized what she had just said and widened her eyes just fractionally before putting on her most innocent face. "Nope."

Her parents seemed to buy it and, with one last suspicious look, Gwendolyn said, "Dinner's nearly ready, set the table Gavina."

Gavina nodded and jumped off the counter where she had been sitting, grabbing plates and silverware as calmly as she could so she didn't alert her parents to her lie.

Going into the dining room, Gavina sighed a quiet sigh of relief. That was too close, and her parents were suspicious now, she just knew it. It was in their nature.

That was it. She had to keep her friend safe. She knew it would hurt both of them, but she had to keep Autumn away from her.

And the only way she knew how was not a pleasant option.

* * *

The next morning, she went to Autumn's house as usual, but only half-heartedly returned the girl's grin. When Autumn called her, "Cooper," she nearly inaudibly responded with, "Pygmy."

After a few seconds, Autumn punched her in the arm, but laughed.

Rima noticed how Gavina was acting and turned to Autumn. "Sweetie, can you go inside and grab my wallet real quick? I forgot to grab it and I want to go shopping."

"Sure mom!" Autumn chirped and ran inside without even asking where to look. Seeing as her mom didn't have a designated spot for it, this bought her some time.

Her mom smiled before returning her gaze to Gavina with a serious expression. "What's wrong honey?"

Gavina teared up a little. "I think my parents suspect something. I can't let Autumn be hurt by them. I need... I need to keep her away from me. She cannot be hurt on my account."

Rima pulled her into a hug. Within the few months of them knowing each other, they had grown close and Gavina was almost like a second daughter.

"What're you going to do?"

The young hawk girl took a shaky breath. "I think... I need to betray her. The only way to ensure she'll keep away from me is for me to do what I promised to not."

Autumn's mom let a tear fall. "This is going to hurt you both. Are you sure?"

"It's better to hurt her feelings than let my parents grow more suspicious and kill her."

"Do what you have to do, Cooper." Gavina tearfully smiled at the use of her nickname, then let go and wiped her eyes quickly.

Just in time, too, as Autumn chose that moment to bounce out of her house, Rima's wallet in hand.

Rima grinned as best as she could. "Thanks... Pygmy."

"Mom!" Rima grinned mischievously and ruffled her daughter's hair, bringing out a pout.

"Quit it!" Autumn batted at her mom's hand.

"Fine, fine. You two better get to school. You'll be late."

"Nuuuuu... fiiiine..." Autumn then proceeded to stumble about as though she couldn't fly, and her mom ruffled her hair again.

"MOM!" Rima just laughed and gave her daughter a mock glare. "Ok, ok, leaving now."

As the two girls headed to school, Rima and Gavina shared one last, sad glance.

* * *

The day was normal, other than Gavina being quieter than normal, which Autumn instantly noticed. This sort of thing had happened before, and Autumn found it best to just leave Gavina alone when this happened. So she did.

Just before the last five minutes of class, Gavina left to go to the bathroom. The rest of the class took this opportunity to gang up on Autumn. There were a few punches to the gut and some insults, but Autumn didn't really mind. Any second Gavina would walk back through the door and they would all stop.

Gavina did walk in the door, and they did all stop, expecting to get scolded.

But it didn't go as Autumn had hoped.

Gavina walked up to her, and Autumn jumped up and ran to her side, but the hawk girl turned empty eyes on her friend.

"Get away from me."

Autumn staggered back as though punched in the gut.

"Wh- what? Cooper?"

"Don't call me that, _Freak_!" Gavina spat, not looking the owl girl in the eyes. She suddenly found her shoes very interesting, but looked back up against her will.

She was met by the sight of amber eyes shattered like ice, tears glistening in between the shards.

"What are you doing, Cooper?!" Autumn cried, stumbling backwards into the wall.

"You heard me loud and clear. With that _owl _hearing of yours, there's no way you could've missed me, idiot." Gavina fought the urge to wrap her best friend up in a hug, but didn't have to do so for long.

The bell rang and Autumn sprinted out of the room like the hounds of Hell were on her heels, tears running down her face. When she got to the pick-up area, she jumped into her mom's waiting arms and sobbed, Rima hiding them both with her wings. Neither cared that she had left her school stuff on her desk, and they sure as heck weren't going back for it that day.

Meanwhile, the rest of the class was staring at Gavina like she had grown another pair of wings _and_ a third eye in the middle of her forehead.

After regaining her composure, the brown-haired hawk girl glared at her classmates and snarled, "Don't any of you _dare _hurt her. You do… I will make sure your death is slow. And. Painful."

Gavina left the school and passed Rima. She caught Rima's eye and mouthed, "_I am _so _sorry!"_

Rima nodded back. "_As you said- better this than her being dead."_

With one last nod and a tiny, sad smile, Gavina took off and flew for her house.

After what her parents indirectly made her do to her friend, she wasn't planning on calling that building her "home" any time soon.

Rima watched Gavina go and sighed. She took off and headed for home, Autumn still crying in her arms.

* * *

When Autumn and Rima got to the house, they were met by Alon, who swooped right in and joined the hug. Rima had told him about the plan, so all that was on his mind all day was comforting his daughter. She eventually cried herself to sleep at about 6:00.

The next day her parents had difficulty getting her out of bed- even more than usual, and with Autumn being an owl (and therefore inherently a night-person), that was saying something. They wished more than anything that they could keep Autumn out of school for the day, but she wasn't sick and no one in their family had died recently. The school would never allow it, so they put on their most optimistic faces and got their daughter up and to the table for breakfast.

Autumn refused to eat more than three tiny bites of food, even at her parent's insistence. If it were up to her, she wouldn't have had any. After yesterday, the sight of food made her stomach roll.

Her dad sighed. "Come on Autumn, get dressed and I'll fly with you to school."

The owl girl nodded and got up, all without saying a word.

She returned to the living room a few minutes later in blue jeans, a black hoodie and old tennis shoes.

Five minutes later, she was at school and waving goodbye to her dad in slightly better spirits than when they had left their house. Alon had been cracking jokes the entire way there.

It all vanished as Autumn walked through the door to her classroom, hair covering her face and refusing to look at anyone. She sat down and buried her face in an Earth book until class started.

Feeling a stare on the back of her head, she turned around to glare back, but was met by Gavina's blue-eyed gaze.

Autumn whipped her head back to face the front and yanked her hood up, tears welling in her own amber eyes. She sunk further into her seat.

_If this is what betrayal feels like, I promise I'm never going to let anyone else in to hurt me. Ever. No one shall know me. I'll do whatever I can- I'll be a jerk, I'll cry, I'll be sarcastic, I'll be silent. They won't find me._

* * *

From then on, Autumn did anything to get her mind off of the cruddy reality life gave her. She'd go flying until her wings ached. She'd experiment with anything she could. She wrote stories, typically underdog stories, and poetry. She studied fighting strategies, both well known and less used, such as stealth and sneak attacks. Then she'd put them into practice at local gym simulators. She would study aerial tricks, fighting with different weapons, medical remedies and aid, and, of course, foreign languages, cultures and codes.

But her favorite thing to do was read books that had nothing to do with life. Stories about adventures and magic and ridiculous inventions and especially the odd book from Earth or any other planet. She loved the Earth Marvel comics she found.

By the time her ninth birthday rolled around, Autumn was easily the smartest person in her class. She knew more facts about more random topics than anyone in the school, but no one really knew as she would rarely speak. She would use her smarts as a way to intimidate others, and would show off spectacularly in weapons and combat classes, using her sneak attacks and other tactics to scare her classmates off, despite the fact that she was about the size of a six year old hawk Thanagarian.

Curse her owl genes. Why did owls have to age slower?

Her parents were determined, as always, to make her birthday a good one.

On January 25, the two woke up their daughter with identical grins on their faces.

"Happy birthday Autumn!" They yelled, waking Autumn up with a jolt and a little screech of shock. Laughing, they dodged the fists they knew were coming as the owl girl almost literally fought her way into full consciousness.

Autumn sat up and rubbed her eyes with her hands, stretching out her wings a bit to ruffle them. "Wha... why?" She asked drowsily.

The two grinned at Autumn and took the breakfast trays from the desk they had put them on earlier. Seeing her favorite breakfast on there- namely, Earth-style chocolate chip waffles- Autumn perked up so fast that her parents laughed.

After eating the waffles slowly, so as to savor each bite, Autumn leapt up and hugged her parents tightly. "You two are the best," she whispered.

Rima and Alon grinned and hugged her back.

After a minute, they let go and Rima bent down to ruffle her hair, receiving an indignant, "Hey! Moooom!"

They all laughed as Autumn "tried" to fix her hair, deliberately making it worse.

The day went well. The family got some glares at the park, as per usual, but no one tried to hurt them, and so far everything had gone off without a hitch.

Rima and Alon couldn't wait until that night, and judging by the way Autumn was happier than she had been in a long time, she couldn't either.

Night came, and the Pines could be found in their kitchen, the two oldest bringing out a large strawberry cake with purple whipped cream icing and nine candles- one unlit to signify an undefined year and for good luck.

The Thanagarian birthday routine followed. Autumn blew out the candles, flew up into the night sky as high as she could, and whispered her wish to the moon and the winter constellations. Then she flew back down, where her parents bugged her to tell them her wish while she laughed and repeated, "Nope, no, na-ah."

Then they all had cake. Somehow, it ended in a minor food fight and they all got some purple icing on their faces.

After that came presents.

Year after year, Autumn had a habit of not asking for much- basically, anything but clothes.

This year, she got a mini library of books. Her parents had been collecting as many Earth books as they could find and had gotten a couple of human medical textbooks and car manuals, Guardians of Childhood and Chronicles of Narnia books and even a few Marvel comics. Fittingly, they had managed to get the first few books of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series, too.

Autumn stared in awe at each new book she unwrapped, but the last one would've put the icing on the cake, if it hadn't been all over their faces.

It was a book on the Thanagarian Owl subspecies, accompanied by a thick, handwritten journal. Autumn picked up the old journal and gently leafed through the slightly yellowed pages. Tearing her eyes away, she looked at her parents in curiousity.

They smiled gently. "Your grandpa was an owl. He wrote in a notebook about what he had to go through, in hopes he might be able to help another one down the line. We believe that time has come," Alon explained.

Happy tears welled up in Autumn's eyes as she gently set down the old book before flinging herself into her parent's arms. "Thank you, thank you thank you! You are the best parents ever!"

They stayed in the group hug for about a minute until the doorbell rang with its loud, "_Ding-dong!"_

"I've got it," Rima called and headed to the door.

Expecting it to be one of her mom's friends, Autumn picked up the first book of Guardians of Ga'Hoole, called The Capture, and began to read.

She was so engrossed in the book that even her owl hearing didn't pick up the soft exchange between Rima and Gavina.

"Hi, Mrs. Pines," Gavina said quietly, head down.

Rima smiled softly and knelt down to the hawk girl's level. "Gavina, I've told you to just call me Rima."

The nine year old nodded, but didn't look back up. "I know. I'm sorry, but... I still don't feel that I deserve such trust."

Rima sighed and pulled the girl into a gentle hug. "What you did was to help Autumn, and while it wasn't ideal, it was all we had. Alon and myself are still grateful to you for giving her a second glance in the first place, and someday maybe we can tell her what really happened." She pulled away and lifted Gavina's chin so they were staring straight into the others gaze. "You're still like a second daughter to us, and that gift that you insisted on getting for Autumn proves it."

Gavina smiled and picked the gift back up from where she had set it down on the porch. "I saw her flying up for her birthday wish. It was amazing to watch- she's quite the flyer."

The older hawk girl chuckled. "She loves flying as much as she loves reading. Of course, studying those aerial techniques probably helped."

"I'd say!" Gavina grinned in pride of the younger owl girl and handed over the present, trepidation settling back in. "Do you think she'll like it?"

Rima smiled gently. "You know her. She'll love it."

Gavina grinned and turned around, walking about five feet off the porch. She waved goodbye and took off after Rima returned the gesture.

Alon and Rima met gazes as she walked back into the room, then they both shifted their eyes to their daughter, sitting cross-legged on the ground and already eight pages into her book.

"Autumn, your mom found this on the porch," Alon called, gesturing to Rima, who held out the wrapped package.

The owl girl's eyebrows raised in confusion. "Really? What is it?"

"We won't know 'till you open it, Birthday Girl," her dad laughed.

Autumn's eyes widened and her eyebrows rose even further. "You mean... it's for me?"

"Of course! See?" Rima pointed out the card taped to the front, where "Autumn Pines" was written in neat, careful, beautiful lettering.

Autumn gently took the package from her mom's hand and opened the card.

Dear Autumn,

Happy 9th birthday!

I hope you like the presents I got for you. They're not as technologically advanced as some of the things we have here, but they're certainly unique things to have.

Love,

It wasn't signed, but there was a giant, erased scribble where a name should have been. Despite her best efforts and even a few Sherlock Holmes techniques, Autumn couldn't make out the name, so she set it off to the side and unfolded the paper from the somewhat large box it wrapped.

She glanced at her parents again, and her mom mimed for her to open the box, so she did.

She stared in awe at the black oboe case that met her vision. She had always wanted to learn how to play an oboe, ever since she had tried her hand at the clarinet and found out she was a natural!

Shaking her head to clear it, she lifted the wooden case out of the box and put it on the floor, unlatching the lid and pulling it up.

The inside of the case was lined in soft, dark blue-purple velvet, and that's where the separate pieces of the grenadilla wood, Lorée oboe rest, alongside a new box of reeds and a swab. It was almost new; in fact, the only way you could tell it wasn't was a little wear in the lining and a few smudges on some of the keys.

A rectangular object caught her eye and her gaze went from running up and down the instrument to studying the... whatever it was.

It was a dark purple, metal thing that blended in well with the lining on the case, and would've done so a lot better if it wasn't so beat up.

Autumn picked it up and turned it around in her hand. Turning it to the back, Autumn saw a white apple-missing-a-bite logo and the word, "iPod."

Continuing her scrutinization, she turned it back to the front. It wasn't all that big, way smaller than her hand, and it had a circular touchpad with the word "menu" at the top, a fast forward button on the right, rewind button on the left, a play/pause button at the bottom and one last, unlabeled button in the middle.

Above the touchpad was a screen, at the bottom was a little circular hole next to a long, rectangular plug-in, and at the top was a switch that was on red.

Autumn flicked the switch and the screen lit up, a picture of a human face covered in bandages except for the eye came up along with the words, "Skillet, Awake" in black text.

At the top of the screen in a black banner were the words,

"Skillet

**Hero**

Awake (Deluxe version)"

Autumn curiously pressed the play button and the intro started blasting, making her jump with a quiet, surprised hiss and hit pause again.

She let it play a little bit more before going back to the box to see if there was anything she had missed.

Sure enough, there were two white cords wrapped up, one with a point where they branched off into two with little circles at the ends that had a smaller plug and the other with a box at the end that had the same logo as the "iPod."

She also found another note.

Autumn,

I found this 5th generation iPod nano at the airship docks and thought you'd like it. The songs are certainly... interesting. I'm not sure how it got here, but there's some pictures of the owner on it along with the songs.

It also had earphones and a charger with it that you should be able to use.

You can pretty much just have fun exploring the songs, and the shuffle is cool- I kept that one on. The switch at the top is to keep it locked after holding the pause button, and if you press and hold the center button, scroll down and click On-the-go while on a song, you can add it to a playlist.

The rest, I think you can figure out. Hope you like it!

Love,

It was signed with another smudge, but Autumn grinned. She would have to check out those pictures.


	5. Ren: Part III

**A/N: Hallie: This finishes up the events of the first two episodes of YJ and Ren notices something about M'gann that reminds her of her past. _I don't own Young Justice or DC._ I do own Ren and Creatonia.**

* * *

Kid Flash stepped closer to the unit, "Big K, little R… The atomic symbol for Krypton. A clone?"

Aqualad turned towards the Boy Wonder, "Robin. Hack."

"Right… right…" Robin replied quietly, like he was still in shock. They all were still in shock. A clone?

"Weapon designation: Superboy. A clone force grown in… _sixteen weeks!_" Robin exclaimed. "From DNA acquired from Superman!'

"Eh… most likely stolen DNA from Superman. I really doubt he would willingly volunteer himself to be cloned." Fantasia corrected.

"Yeah… No way the big guy knows about this." KF agreed.

"Solar-suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7." Robin added.

"And these… creatures?" Aqualad pointed towards the genomorphs resting above the clone's head.

"Genomorph gnomes… Telepathic. They are force-feeding him an education." Robin answered.

"And you can guess what else… They're making a slave out of, well..." KF replied gravely.

"Superman's son." Tasia finished.

Aqualad had a hard look on his face, "Now we contact the League." All four of them try to reach some League member, but to no avail.

"No signal." Robin confirmed.

"We're in too deep… Literally." Kid Flash muttered.

* * *

Outside the doors, Dr. Dezmond ran over to find them still not open. After yelling at the scientists for a few minutes he said, "You realize once we get in there, we can't ever let them leave."

Guardian gave him a stern look, "Doc, these aren't your normal 'meddling kids', you don't want to get on the wrong side of the Justice League."

"Better than getting on the wrong side of the Cadmus Board of Directors, believe me."

Dr. Dezmond then told the geno-gnome on Guardian's shoulder to contact the ones in Superboy's containment until. It's horns glowed red.

* * *

The horns of the geno-gnomes in the unit also began to glow red, but it went unnoticed.

"This is so wrong, Tasia muttered.

"We can't leave him like this," Robin agreed.

"Set him free… Do it," Aqualad said to Robin.

Robin hacked in and lowered the doors of the containment unit. With a hiss and some steam, they opened. Superboy's hands turned into fists and his eyes opened, revealing them to be blue. Before they could blink, he had rocketed out of the unit and tackled Aqualad to the ground. He kept punching him, until KF and Robin attempted to pull him off, while Tasia tried to pull Aqualad out from under Superboy.

"Woah! Hang on Supey!" Kid Flash grunted.

"We're on your side!" Robin added.

The Kryptonian clone punched KF so hard it sent him crashing into a glass tube, shattering it and knocking him out.

"I don't want to do this!" Robin yelled as he released a gas onto Superboy, while Aqualad kicked him away. Robin tried to taser him, but he just grabbed the cable and yanked it towards him. He locked Robin underneath his foot, leaving him struggling. Aqualad got up and produced a giant hammer with his water weapons, knocking Superboy off from Robin. Fantasia rushed to her best friend's aid, helping him up, before he passed out on her. She just sat there, holding him, trying to get him to wake up.

Aqualad put himself in front of the two thriteen year olds, "We are trying to help you!"

Superboy just narrowed his eyes at him before advancing again. The two began to do hand-to-hand combat before Aqualad got him into an armlock and tried to electrocute him. Superboy just jumped into the ceiling a few times, before Aqualad become knocked out. He walked over behind Fantasia, who was still watching over an unconscious Robin, so she didn't hear him. And with one blow to the head, she too was out cold.

With all four teen heroes knock out, Superboy walked over to the metal door and threw it open with little to no effort. Dr. Dezmond grew a smile on his face as he walked past him and saw all the immobile heroes.

"Atta boy."

* * *

Dr. Dezmond stepped into a circular room with multiple holographic monitors, the faces on those monitor's were blurred. But, they called themselves the Light. Dr. Dezmond explained how Robin, Fantasia, Kid Flash, and Aqualad broke in and had found and released what they called… the Weapon. Who turned out to be Superboy, who was under Cadmus's control. He told them how they were able to capture the four teens and that they thought the League was unknowing of their location. Dr. Dezmond was given the instructions to clone the heroes, and the clones would serve the Light. And when it came to the originals…Well, they were to be disposed of.

* * *

Fantasia snapped awake due to a loud and strange voice in her head telling her to do so. She looked around to find herself, and her friends (who had also awoken), to be pinned against their will and put into glass containment units, which were very similar to what Superboy had been kept in. Speaking of Superboy, standing in front of all four of them, staring at them with an expressionless face, was the Kryptonian clone himself.

"Wha? What do you want? Quit staring! You're creeping me out!" Kid Flash was yelling at the supposed "son of Superman".

"Uh… KF, how about we not tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?" Robin muttered from two units over. In between KF and Robin was Tasia, and on Kid Flash's other side was Aqualad.

* * *

"Prepare the cloning procedure for the new Project… Sidekick. Now!" Dr. Dezmond ordered one of the other scientist, as he came up to Guardian who was overseeing the repairs made to the Project Kr chamber.

Guardian told him that the "Weapon" was with the hostages, when asked where he was. The doctor yelled at the head of security, telling him to get the clone back into his pod. After a bit of negotiation… Guardian did what he was told.

* * *

"We only sought to help you," Aqualad said quietly.

"Yeah! We free you and you turn on us! How's that for-" Kid Flash yelled.

"Kid. Please, be quiet now. I do not believe our new friend is in full control of his actions." Aqualad interrupted.

Fantasia looked over at Robin, who seemed to be trying to pick the wrist-cuffs. Her attention was drawn back over to the clone in a matter of seconds though.

"Well… What if I… What if I wasn't." Superboy said quietly.

"He can talk!" KF declared.

Superboy turned his cold glare towards the junior speedster, "Yes… _He_ can."

Fantasia turned her own glare towards the ginger as well, he just shrugged. Or, well, tried to anyways.

"What? It wasn't as if I said _it_."

"The genomorphs taught you… telepathically. Didn't they?" The Creationian girl asked.

"They taught me much. I can read, write… I know the names of things." Superboy

continued.

The Boy Wonder looked shocked, "Have you seen them? Have they actually ever let you see the sky? Or the sun?"

"I have had images implanted into my mind."

"_Heh. Yeah. Like that is any better," _Ren thought.

"But… no. I have not seen them." The clone finished.

Aqualad looked down at the Superman clone in question, "Do you know what you are? Who you are?"

"I am the Superboy. A genomorph. A clone made from the DNA of the Superman. Created to replace him, should he parish. To destroy him, should he turn from the Light." Superboy replied to the question flawlessly, making it obvious that what to say was programmed into his mind.

Kid Flash, Robin, and Fantasia all looked at each other with surprised expressions. Aqualad bowed his head, "To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration. But, like Superman, you deserve a life of your own. Beyond that source. Beyond your pod. Beyond Cadmus."

Superboy's face grew harsh and angry, "I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!"

Robin looked at him wearily, "Your home is a test tube."

"We can show you the grass, the sky, the ocean, and the sun!" Fantasia chimed in.

"Uh… Pretty sure it's after midnight. But, we can show you the moon." KF corrected.

"We can show you, introduce you, to Superman." Aqualad added. This seemed to spark Superboy's attention.

"No. They can't," The doors opened to reveal Dr. Dezmond, Guardian, and the African-American scientist. "They will be… otherwise occupied. Activate the cloning process."

Robin glared at the doctor, "Pass! Batcave's crowded enough."

"Yeah!" Tasia chimed in. "One Boy Blunder is bad enough as it is!"

Robin turned his head and glared at his best friend, "Hey!"

The doctor ignored the young teen's little flirting session to order Guardian to put the "Weapon" back into his pod.

"Heyy…" KF complained. "How come he gets to call Supey an _it_?"

Guardian walked up to Superboy and put a hand on his shoulder. Superboy looked up at the four teens.

"Help us." Aqualad said.

Fantasia looked down at the Kryptonian with a meaningful glance, "Please."

Superboy shrugged off the hand of Guardian. Dr. Dezmond walked up from behind them, "Don't start thinking now!" A geno-gnome hopped onto Superboy's shoulder, and it's horns began to glow.

"See… you're not a real boy. You're a weapon. You belong to me! Well… to Cadmus, same thing! Now back to your pod!"

Under the mind control of the geno-gnomes, Superboy walked out of the chamber and back to his own pod.

The African-American scientist pushed a few buttons and started the cloning process. These metal claw things came out and attached themselves to each of the teens, electrocuting them, while getting their DNA. All four of them began to scream due to the intense pain. Dr. Dezmond ordered Double X, the weird pale blue guy, to have the geno-gnomes start downloading their memories. And then to make sure to… Delete the source material.

Though still in pain, Aqualad began to whisper to Superboy, knowing his superhearing would pick it up. "Superboy. You gives you the right to follow your own path! A weapon? Or a person? The choice is yours. But, ask yourself… What would Superman do?"

Superboy narrowed his eyes in anger and thought, and the next thing he knew, he was back in the cloning chamber, ripping the door off. This caused the cloning process to come to a halt. All of the scientists whipped around to see what the case was.

"I told you to get back to your-" Dr. Dezmond began, but Superboy just pushed past him and the other scientists.

He glared at the doctor, "Don't give me orders."

"You here to help us, or fry us?" Kid Flash questioned the boy in front of them.

Superboy narrowed his eyes at KF, "Huh… Looks like I don't have heat vision, so I guess helping is my only option."

At that moment Robin was finally able to get the cuffs loose front his wrists, "Uhg. Finally. Lucky Batman isn't here or he would have my head for taking so long."

Fantasia just rolled her eyes at the Boy Wonder, while KF countered with, "Seriously? That's what you're worried about? The whole League will have our heads after tonight!"

Robin just hit a button that brought down the glass wall keeping all the remaining teens in their pods. He turned to Superboy, "You free Aqualad, I'll get Tas and Kid Mouth."

"Don't you give me orders either." But, Superboy still went and freed the Atlantian.

Robin finished freeing Kid Flash and then turned to free Fantasia, to find her already free and standing right behind him.

"What the-?"

"What? You're not the only one who had been trained by Batdude. Come on, let's get outta here!" With that all five teens rushed out of the cloning chamber.

Dr. Dezmond glared at them from his place on the ground, "You- You'll never get out of here! I'll have you back in pods before morning!"

Robin threw some bombs at the cloning machines to get rid of the collected DNA, "That guy is not whelmed. Not whelmed at all."

KF just stared at him, before they both ran off, "What is it with you and this whole _whelmed_ thing?"

They were just able to make it out as the bombs detonated.

* * *

While staring at the damage the bombs caused, the doctor had the geno-gnome on his shoulder activate every single genomorph in Cadmus.

This caused the giant egg-like things in the walls of the red tunnels that the teens were running through, to glow red and genomorphs to break out of them. Fantasia and her friends stopped running towards the elevator, due to being blocked by the giant genomorphs they saw when they first entered the underground facility. From behind them crept up the genomorphs hatching from the red-glowing wall eggs. They were trapped.

* * *

The giant genomorphs began to attack the surrounded heroes, four of them were able to have dodged it and get behind the creature. But, when they turned around they found Superboy punching the living daylights out of them. His punching was rattling the tunnels acted as a bonus to the situation (Note: Sarcasm).

"Superboy, the goal is escape, not to bury ourselves here!" Aqualad called out to his Kryptonian companion.

Superboy turned to face them, wearing a psychotic and anger filled expression, "YOU WANT ESCAPE?" He then managed to take one of the knocked out giant genomorphs and threw it at some others, pinning them to the ground.

Aqualad pried open the elevator doors, and looked up to the tall vacant space above them. Kid Flash zipped to a wall, Robin used his grappling hook, while Fantasia used her wings to fly upwards. Superboy grabbed a hold of Aqualad and jumped up off the ground, avoiding the oncoming genomorphs. But, he only got so far before he began to fall back down.

"What? I'm falling…"

Robin looked down in horror at his descending companions, before throwing down a bat-a-rang that got stuck in the wall, so Aqualad could grab hold of it.

"Superman can fly… Why can't I fly?" Superboy looked up at Aqualad with a confused and dejected look on his face.

"Dunno. But, it does look like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound." KF replied.

Fantasia looked at the Superman clone with sympathy, "Dude, that is still incredibly awesome. I wish I could do that!"

"Tas… With your powers, you are able to make yourself able to do that!" The Boy Wonder pointed out. Tasia just turned and gave him a glare that clearly read: _Not helping here, Boy Blunder._

Kid Flash helped Superboy and Aqualad onto the ledge, while Robin looked to see the elevator coming down to where they were.

"Guys! This will have to be our exit!"

With that Superboy punched in the elevator doors and the five teens ran inside the building. They began to run down another corridor because the one straight ahead of them was filling with the attacking genomorphs.

_Turn left brother. _Superboy narrowed his eyes in confusion at the deep voice in his head, but decided to follow its instructions.

"Turn left!" He yelled out to his rescuers.

_Turn right._

"Right!"

Following these instruction led them to a dead end, KF glared at Superboy. "Great directions Supey! Are you trying to get us repodded?"

Aqualad, Robin, and Fantasia came up from behind them. Superboy looked seriously confused, "No… I-I don't understand."

"Why are you sorry? This will work perfectly!" Fantasia got a ear-to-ear grin on her face.

* * *

The genomorphs turned into the dead-end to find no teenage heroes, but they did find an open air vent. Which is where the heroes now were crawling.

"At this rate we'll never get out!" Kid Flash grumbled.

"Shh! Listen," Superboy said, shutting him up. They all turned and looked to where Superboy was looking.

Genomorphs were crawling after them.

* * *

"Someone, Robin I wager, hacked our systems, deactivating internal security cameras. But, he neglected the motion sensors. The genomorphs are closing in, they will be coming out in here." Dr. Dezmond opened the door to the ladies bathroom.

"We have them cornered!" They all gathered around the air vent, just to have a bunch of beaten up Genomorphs fall on top of them.

"He hacked the motion sensors," Dezmond growled.

* * *

"I hacked the motion sensors." Robin turned and gave his fellow heroes a grin.

Fantasia smiled back, "That is a work of pure awesomeness my dear Bird Boy."

Robin's grin faded, "There are still a lot of them between us and out."

"But, I finally got room to move!" Kid Flash pulled his red goggles down over his eyes and sped up the stairway. He knocked out all of the oncoming Genomorphs while the others followed, not too far behind.

"More behind us!" Robin called out, looking at this holo-computer.

Superboy turned around and broke off the stairs behind them, sending the Genomorphs into gravity's awaiting arms.

* * *

Dezmond, Guardian, Double X, and a bunch of Genomorphs watched as the elevator told them what floor they were on.

"We'll cut them off at sublevel one." Guardian told them.

Dezmond turned and glared at him, "We better. Or the board will have our heads. ...My head." He pressed the emergency stop button, opening the doors to one of the other floors.

"I need to get something from Project Blockbuster, just in case. I'll meet you at sublevel one." And with that the elevator doors closed.

* * *

KF continued to speed up the stairwell, but when he reached the top, he found the doors had just closed. "Aw, crud."

He slammed into the door at full speed, but it sent him flying back.

"We're cut off on the street." Aqualad observed as he and other other joined the speedster.

Kid Flash glared at the doors, "Thanks… My head hadn't noticed."

Fantasia came up from behind him and whacked him on the head, he winced. "Your head is already screwed up enough, a few more bumps won't make that much of a difference."

Superboy walked past the two and up to the doors. He gave them a hard punch. Nothing happened. Then he and Aqualad tried to pry open the doors. Robin tried to hack through it, but wasn't fast enough. The giant Genomorphs were coming in from behind them. Robin kicked opened a panel next to him, "This way!" The others followed.

They ran into a room filled with Genomorphs and Guardian. Larger Genomorphs closed in from the back. They were surrounded. The teens got into fighting positions, while all of the Genomorph's horns glowed red. This knocked the young heroes right out. Superboy fell to his knees as Double X entered the situation.

_Perhaps for the sake of all Genomorphs, our brother Superboy should make up his own mind._

Superboy's head and eyes snapped open and he turned to look a Double X with an almost crazy look on his face. _It was you!_

_Yes, brother. I set the fire and ward your new friends down into Cadmus. And woke them when they were in danger._

_And guided me. Why? _

_Because you are our hope, the Genomorph hero. You will blaze a trail for all our brothers, showing us the way to freedom. _

Guardian gave out a soft moan as the small geno-gnome hopped off of his shoulder. "What's going on?"

Aqualad sat up and saw Superboy stand up.

_What is your choice brother?_

"I choose freedom." Superboy declared.

Guardian had his hand on his head, "Feels like… fog… lifting."

The rest of the teenage heroes stood up. Aqualad looked at the Gold-helmeted hero cautiously, "Guardian?"

"Go. I'll deal with Dezmond."

"I think not." The Genomorphs all cleared a path to reveal the doctor. He glared at all of the ones watching him. "Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus." With those words said, he drank a vial of the neon blue liquid.

The liquid caused him to undergo an immediate transformation. He turned into a giant grey-blue muscular beast, covered in what looked like red cracks. He bared a striking resemblance to a villain known as Mammoth.

* * *

"Everyone, back!" Guardian called out as he charged at the newly transformed Dezmond. The beast whacked him, sending him flying into a wall.

Superboy growled and lept at the monster. The two then indulged into the battle of the fists. The "son of Superman" seemed to be winning, until Dezmond gave him a blow that sent him flipping away. He got back up and jumped at him. Dezmond did the same, catching him in mid air and sending them both through the ceiling. The other four heroes looked through the hole.

"Well, that's one way to crash through a ceiling." Robin shot his grappling hook up through the hole.

"Did labcoat plan all of that?" KF asked before grabbing hold of Robin and the two of them being pulled upwards.

"I don't think he's planning anything anymore." Aqualad responded.

* * *

Aqualad jumped through the hole, while Tasia followed by flying. The two arrived on the main floor of Cadmus to find Robin and Kid Flash watching Superboy fight it out with Dezmond. Superboy got thrown backwards into Aqualad, sending them both flying back. The rest of the team ran to them, helped them up and then got into battle-ready positions.

They stood off with Dezmond for a few moments before he charged. The five teens did the same. KF slid under him, distracting him for a moment to allow both Superboy and Aqualad to deliver a punch to the face.

Dezmond stumbled backwards, only to trip over Kid Flash. "Learned that one in kindergarten," KF commented.

Robin flipped over KF, throwing same batarangs at Dezmond in the process. Fantasia took the opportunity to give the beast a kick to the face, sending him face-to-face with Superboy. Dezmond lunged at Superboy, crashing him into a cement pillar. The Kryptonian gave him a few punches to the face, which the monster gladly returned. Just as Dezmond was about to strike again, Aqualad's water-whips circled around his forearm. He flung Aqualad up, but the Atlantean flipped over him and tried to hit him with another weapon. But, Dezmond blocked the shot and sent Aqualad down into the cement floor. The monster then threw Superboy into another cement pillar, which landed on the young hero.

Kid Flash then ran over and began to attack Dezmond. He and Aqualad tried to do a double attack, but failed. They both got thrown into cement pillars multiple times. Fantasia observed that the more hits the pillars received, the more the structure around it seemed to crumble. She pointed this out to Robin.

"Of course," He pulled up a picture of the pillars. "KF, get over here!" The ginger speedster did as her was told.

While Aqualad and Superboy continued to fight Dezmond, Robin calculated what he needed to. "Got it?"

"Got it." KF replied and then sped off. He ran towards Superboy and Dezmond, then turned and punched Dezmond in the face. When he landed he realised he had ripped off the fabric that was covering his nose and eyes. "Gotch your nose!"

This got the monster's attention and he threw down Superboy and turned towards the junior speedster. KF backed up before speeding off in another direction. Dezmond followed him. Superboy and Aqualad stood up next to each other just in time to hear and see what Robin's plan was.

"Come and get me you incredible bulk!" Kid Flash called out to the beast, he ran off before he could hit him, making Dezmond hit the cement pillar directly behind where he was standing. One of the debris pieces hit KF in the back, knocking him to the ground. He looked up to see Dezmond jumping down towards him, but he rolled away in time.

"This one and that one." Robin pointed out to Aqualad and Superboy which pillars to hit. While they did that Robin pulled out his own weapons.

Kid Flash succeeded in making the monster take out another pillar. Robin on the other hand, was using chalk to draw a giant "x" on the ground. Aqualad sprayed water on to the ground, while KF lead Dezmond to the marked area. Once there Tasia and Superboy knocked the beast on to the water-coated ground. Aqualad then used his electric shock to electrocute Dezmond. The monster fell to the ground.

Robin yelled for everyone else to get out, since the bombs his placed in the other pillars were about to blow. The bombs detonated and brought the entire building crashing to the ground. Seeing that they weren't going to make it out, Aqualad and Superboy pushed Robin, KF, and Tasia to the ground, and used themselves as cover.

A glow could be seen from under the rubble, and soon after, a small portion of that debris flew off that spot. Fantasia had used her powers to blast away the cement pieces that were covering them up. The small band of teenage heroes stood/sat up and looked around the fallen Cadmus.

"Heh… We… did it." Aqualad said, quite out of breath.

Robin looked up from where he was crouched next to Fantasia and smiled, he also out of breath, "Was there… ever any doubt?"

The Boy Wonder turned to look at Fantasia and Kid Flash, they all grinned at each other. Rob and KF gave each other a high-five over Tasia's head, but ended up flinching from the pain. This made the girl in the middle giggle, earning her a pair of glares.

Superboy stared at the fallen Dezmond, trapped underneath all of the debris.

"Hey," Kid Flash said, making Superboy turn around, "Look. The moon."

Superboy stared up at the giant space rock in awe, and to his surprise, saw Superman flying towards him. KF came to stand next to his fellow hero.

"Oh…. And Superman. Do we keep our promises or what?"

As the Man of Steel drew closer to the ground, the entire group of young heroes looked around to find that the entire Justice League had arrived on the scene. Superman, Batman, and Flash stood up front. Superboy stepped forward towards his "father", Superman's eyes narrowed and then widened with surprise when the clone lifted up his ripped uniform to reveal his logo. Superboy's eyes grew hopeful, but quickly went away when he saw Superman's stern expression.

"Is that what I think it is?" Batman questioned.

Kid Flash stepped up next to the younger Kryptonian, "He doesn't like being called an it…"

"I'm Superman's clone." This put the entire League into some state of shock.

It almost seemed as if the young heroes were in a stand off with the Justice League. Batman narrowed his eyes, "Start talking."

* * *

The Green Lanterns flew off with Dezmond in their tight hold. By this time a good amount of the League had cleared off, leaving only the mentors and a few others like Captain Marvel and Red Tornado. Superboy turned and glared at the back of Superman. Martian Manhunter noticed this and brought it to Superman's attention. The Man of Steel turned to look, but looked away just as quickly. It was very clear that Superboy was feeling rejected by the man who was suppose to be his father. Superman then walked over to the shorter boy. He sighed.

"We'll uh… We'll figure something out for you. The League will, I mean. For now, I better make sure they get that Blockbuster creature squared away." With that the protector of Metropolis flew away. Superboy's glare was the only thing that followed him.

"Cadmus will be investigated, all 52 levels. But, let's make one thing clear-" Batman was interrupted by Flash, who earned a glare.

"You should've called."

Batman turned back to the proteges, "End results aside… We are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again."

Aqualad stared down the Leaguers, "I'm sorry… But, we will."

Aquaman took a step forward, "Aqualad, stand down."

"Apologies my King, but no." This statement brought a look of shock to the Sea King's face. But, Aqualad continued, "We did good work here tonight. The work you trained us to do. Together, on our own, we forged something powerful. Important."

"If this is about your treatment at the hall, the four-"

Kid Flash interrupted his mentor, "The five of us, and it's not."

Robin stepped forward, with Fantasia following close behind, "Batman, we're ready to use what you've taught us. Or why teach us at all?"

Tasia looked up at the masked figure who had taken care of her all these years, "Daddy wouldn't have wanted me to have such thorough training for so many years if he didn't think I- we could do something amazing. You wouldn't have gone through with it if you didn't think the same thing. You have all taught us well, but how will we know if we can handle things on our own if you never give us the chances to do so?"

"Why let them tell us what to do? It's simple, get on board, or get out of the way." Superboy stood his ground against the older heroes.

The four other teens turned and stood defiantly towards their mentors. The two teams stood in a standoff for who knows how long.

* * *

The fives teens found themselves at Mount Justice, the old Justice League headquarters, a few days later.

"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League. We are calling it into service again, since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight. You'll do it on League terms. Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary's in charge of training, some of you may already be familiar with her style of teaching. And I will deploy you on missions." Batman turned towards the group of teens, currently dressed in civvies, that he was addressing.

"Real missions?" Robin questions, still wearing sunglasses to protect his identity.

"Yes. On covert." This made the new team smile a little.

"The League will still handle the obvious stuff, there's a reason we have these big targets on our chests," Flash joked.

"The Cadmus proves that the bad guys are getting smarter, Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly." Aquaman added in.

"The six of you will be that team." Batman said.

"Cool." Robin grinned. Fantasia grew a confused look on her face.

"Wait… six?"

Batman looked above the younger heroes heads, their gazes followed to find Martian Manhunter walking towards them with what looked like a young, female version of himself. Fantasia's eyes widened considerably at the young alien's appearance. It looked so familiar…

"Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss. Martian."

"Hi." The new girl on the team waved at the others.

Kid Flash gave Robin a look, "I'm liking this gig better every second." He walked over to the new girl. "Welcome aboard! I'm Kid Flash. That's Robin, Aqualad, Fantasia… It's cool if you forget their names."

Miss. Martian clasped her hands together, "I'm honored to be included."

The team (except for Superboy) all gathered around Miss. Martian. Fantasia grinned at the new girl, "It's nice to know that there will be someone decent on this team."

"Hey!" Robin and KF called out in unison. The Creatonian girl just smirked at them.

"I'm kidding you dorks. Geez." Miss. Martian giggled at this display. That laugh… There was something so familiar about it, but Fantasia just couldn't place it.

"Hey Superboy! Come meet Miss. M!" Robin called out to his Kryptonian teammate.

Superboy walked over just as Miss. Martian used her powers to get rid of her cape and change her shirt to black. She looked down at the floor, and then up at Superboy. "I like your t-shirt."

Superboy just gave her a small smile, while Robin elbowed him in the ribs and KF threw his arm around his shoulders. Superboy watched in slight amusement as Tasia took it upon herself to hop onto Robin's back, making him grunt before holding her up. The Boy Wonder just laughed as his best friend messed up his hair. Her hair was still pink and her eyes were still violet to protect her identity, due to Batman's orders. The four just smiled at eachother and then at Miss. M.

Aqualad looked over at his new team, "Today is the day."

* * *

"Hello, Megan!"

As Miss. Martian, now known as M'gann to the team, uttered this catchphrase everything in Fantasia's mind just clicked. That's who M'gann reminded her of, that's why she made her feel a bit uncomfortable… M'gann looked, talked, and acted almost exactly like a character her mom used to play on TV.

Her breathing seemed to slow as her mind filled with scenes from the TV show and the very limited memories she had of her mother.

"Tas?"

Her eyes widened as she felt her body jerk from the shock of being snapped out of her daydream. She turned her head to see Robin looking at her.

"Yeah?"

His eyes narrowed, "You okay? You zoned out. You never zone out."

"I'm fine. I'm always fine."

Being Robin, he didn't believe her, but let it go.

"'Ey! Rob! You gotta come see this!" Kid Flash's voice echoed throughout the cave.

He turned in the direction of the voice, away from Fantasia. "Be there in a sec!"

When he turned back to his best friend, she was gone.

* * *

_Recognized, Fantasia. B01._

Batman turned his head to see one of his charges entering the Batcave. His eyes narrowed, why was she here? She was suppose to be training with the team. He started towards her, but stopped as she transformed into her civvies.

"Can you ditch the Batdude persona for five minutes? I need to talk to you."

Batman removed his cowl, revealing the face of Bruce Wayne. He peered down at his Goddaughter with a look of concern.

"Talk."

"I want to tell Miss. Martian who I am!" Ren exclaimed quickly.

"What!? You just met her. There is no need for-"

"She acts like my mom!"

With that, Bruce froze, "What?"

Ren stuttered, fixing her mistake. "W-well not my mom, per say. But, she acts exactly like Megan. That character she played on T.V. And it makes me really uncomfortable, so I avoid her. That makes her sad and makes me look like a jerk! Plus, Superboy had been glaring at me all day, and I _really_ don't want an angry Kryptonian against me. So-"

"Ren! Breathe." Bruce interrupted her, "...Do you trust her?"

"Just as much as I do Kid Flash and Aqualad. And they both know my civvie identity... "

Bruce stared down at the girl, who was looking up at him with a pleading expression.

"What would telling Miss. Martian your civilian identity achieve?"

"A level of understanding and communication that is crucial for having a team run smoothly," Ren stated.

Bruce grunted. His Goddaughter did have a point. With a huff, he relented. "Fine. But, only the basics. Make sure to tell Robin you told her, for she might make the connection of you to us. And tell her not to mention what you tell her, or what she might figure out on her own to anyone. My orders."

"Got it."

"Good."

And with that, she was gone.

* * *

M'gann's head shot up at the sound of knocking at her bedroom door. She walked over and opened it to see the only other female on the Team.

"Oh! Hi Tasia!" M'gann cheerfully greeted the younger girl.

"Uh… Hi. Look, can I talk to you?" The Creatonian looked down at the floor.

M'gann blinked, for this behavior was unusual for Fantasia. She nodded.

The younger girl entered the room and sat on M'gann's bed. The martian took a seat next to her. Fantasia's violet eyes bored into M'gann's amber ones. The former's intense gaze made the latter want to shrink away.

"Who are you?" Fantasia bluntly asked.

"What? Who am I? I'm… Me. M'gann M'orzz, the niece of Martian Manhunter. Just a regular green martian."

"You said 'Hello, Megan!'... Your name isn't Megan."

M'gann shifted, uncomfortable with the situation, "I-it's close."

"Not close enough. Your lying M'gann. This isn't you."

This made the alien girl shoot up. Anger was growing in her eyes, which made Tasia shrink back. She had never seen M'gann angry before, it wasn't a welcoming sight.

"H-how do you know?! We barely know each other! I'm me! You don't know who I am!"

Fantasia stood up next the green girl. Now, she was getting ticked. "I know when someone is imitating my mom!"

The room went silent.

"...Your mom?" M'gann sat back down.

Fantasia sighed and joined her. "I got permission from Batman to do this."

She used her powers to morph into Ren Logan. M'gann's eyes widened.

"My name is Serenity Logan. Everyone calls me Ren. Marie Logan was my mother… You're not acting exactly like her, just like the character she used to play. I guess- it just reminded me a lot of her. She's dead ya know. I'm not saying you have to stop acting like Megan, I just want to know why her?"

The martian was silent for a few moments, processing the new information. "Wow. I'm sorry I was reminding you of your mother… 'Hello, Megan!' was one of the only Earth shows to reach Mars. I fell in love with it. I was able to relate to Megan in so many ways. So, when I came to Earth, I decided to alter my appearance to look more… Earthly. Megan's form was the one I chose."

"Oh. I you don't mind me asking, what do you really look like?"

This question made M'gann freeze.

"If you don't want to tell me, that's-"

"No. You showed me who you really are. It's only fair for me to do the same."

M'gann shape-shifted to her "original" martian form. She didn't look much different, just bald with a more defined browline. She looked over at Ren, who smiled.

"You still look really pretty. But, I see where the 'Megan' look fits into Earth more."

"Heh… Yeah. Are we good?" M'gann transformed back into her Earth form.

"Yeah. We're good. Just, don't tell anyone what I told you about my identity. And please don't look me up on anything either. Not that you'll find anything bad, it's just Batman's orders."

"Got it. I really don't want to get on his bad side."

Ren giggled. M'gann and her would get along just fine.


	6. Autumn: Part III

**A/N: Emu: I own my OC's and their families. _I don't own Young Justice, DC, iPods (Apple), or any of the music mentioned._ Enjoy!**

* * *

"**Well that's one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready now go cat go!"**

The iPod started blasting a new song and Autumn jumped again, grabbing the iPod to see which song this was.

"Elvis Presley

**Blue Suede Shoes,**

Elvis Presley (1999 US Bonus Tracks)"

Autumn smirked. She sometimes heard Thanagarians making fun of Elvis Presley, but she couldn't see why. In fact, she liked this song so much that she got up and started dancing.

Rima and Alon laughed and joined in.

Two minutes later, the song ended and another started up.

It was a much calmer song this time, but still rather upbeat.

"**Look at what's happened to me, I can't believe in myself. Suddenly I'm up on top of the world, it should've been somebody else!"**

Autumn looked at the iPod again and read the banner.

"Joey Scarbury

**Theme from 'Greatest American Hero' (Believe it or Not)**

America's Greatest Hero"

Autumn grinned at her parents. "I like this thing," she stated simply, and her parents laughed.

Then Rima saw the clock. It was almost 11:30 PM.

"Well, you'll have to play with it more tomorrow, it's time for bed."

"Awwww..."

Alon got up and tickled Autumn, who squirmed and squealed in laughter. "Fine fine fine! I'll go! Just... s-stop!" She gasped between laughter.

Alon did stop, but only to scoop the girl off the ground and run her to her room. He dropped her gently onto her bed, where she rolled onto her stomach, still laughing, before shooing her dad out of the room so she could change into her pajamas.

She opened the door again and was faced with her parents, both grinning, her mom with the cardboard box of stuff in her hands, her dad teetering under the Precariously Leaning Tower of Books.

Autumn took the books and put them besides the overflowing white bookshelf by her bed to be read later, then grabbed The Capture from the top and put it in the box her mom was still holding, placing it by her bed.

She pretended to be getting into bed, only to attack-hug her parents when they got close enough.

"Thank you," she whispered in their ears with an underlying happy trill, and they smiled.

"So, I'm guessing you enjoyed today, then?" Alon asked, and Autumn nodded vigorously after pulling away.

"You bet I did!"

"Well, lucky for you, you don't have school tomorrow either, so get some sleep now so you can be all hyper tomorrow," her mom joked, kissing her on the forehead.

Alon followed suit and Autumn burrowed beneath her blankets so only her eyes and higher was showing, pretending to be a ninja.

Her parents laughed at her antics and walked back to the door. "Opened or closed?" Rima asked.

"Open, please," Autumn said.

"Ok, goodnight sweetie," her dad replied and turned off the light.

"Goodnight," Autumn whispered back.

As soon as her parents left, Autumn took the iPod back out and plugged in the earphones, putting it on shuffle again.

She got through six more songs including Superman by Five for Fighting, Kryptonite and When I'm Gone by Three Doors Down before she fell asleep, right when the battery ran out.

* * *

Her parents, meanwhile, were talking about Gavina.

Alon sighed. "I can't believe she saved up enough money for that oboe. Autumn is going to love it. And that iPod," he continued, the word foreign on his tongue. "She will listen to that thing until she's memorized every single song on there. It was real sweet how Gavina found that and gave it to Autumn instead of just keeping it."

"That was really nice of Gavina, wasn't it?" Rima said, nearly crying. "Why can't more kids be like that?"

Alon pulled his wife into a hug. "I don't know dear. The world is cruel to those who are different. We can only hope and try to make it better."

"Yes, you're right Alon." Rima looked at the clock again. "We should probably go to bed."

Alon nodded. "I'll be right there. I'm going to check on Autumn really quick."

And he did just that. He found his daughter conked out with her earphones still in and chuckled, walking over to Autumn and gently pulling out the earphones.

Seeing the rather primitive device was out of battery, Alon grabbed the charger from the box it was in and plugged it into the wall.

* * *

Autumn woke up at 10:00 AM the next morning, thoroughly glad her parents had let her sleep in. She had slept better than normal, but not by much.

_Dang owl genes, have to make me an insomniac apparently... 'Night Owl' is quite literal in my case, _Autumn thought with a miniscule smile on her face as she stretched, not getting up just yet.

_Wait... didn't I have my earphones in? _The thought sent Autumn's gaze whipping around until it settled on the wall where her dad had put them. "Oh... I was caught, I guess," she thought aloud, rubbing her neck with a sheepish smile.

She stood up and stretched some more, looking around her room.

Her eyes lighted upon her notebook, which had a metallic wave painting as a cover and a magnetic strip keeping it closed. She grinned and scooped it up, putting it on her bed with The Capture before changing into a green and black long sleeve t-shirt and blue jeans, throwing a black hoodie over it all.

She picked up her notebook, The Capture, a pencil, her iPod and earphones and left the room, shoving most of it in her hoodie pocket as she went. As per usual, she wasn't that hungry, but knew she should probably eat something.

Her mom grinned at her as she walked into the room. "How does it feel to be nine?"

"The same, as always," Autumn shrugged and grabbed a piece of toast and a few pieces of roasted mouse, folding the toast over the meat. Combination of Thanagar and Earth breakfasts!

Quickly eating the sandwich, Autumn briefly contemplated on the possibility that her odd interest in Earth may or may not contribute to the way she was treated and decided that no, it made no difference so why not do whatever the heck she wanted?

She snapped out of her thoughts when she nearly chomped on her fingers, not noticing that she had finished the sandwich.

Turning to Rima, she asked, "Hey, mom, is it ok if I go out for a bit?"

Rima looked outside at the snow covered ground. "I don't know, isn't it a little cold?"

Autumn shrugged. "You know cold doesn't bug me much, and I was considering going to the library or something to fool around with my iPod."

Her mom considered it for a few more seconds before she reminded herself of her daughter's fighting capabilities, her staff and her sneak tactics. "Ok, but be careful," she told her at last.

Autumn beamed and ran forwards to hug her mom. "Thank you!" Then she ran to the coat rack and pulled on her brown winter coat, grabbing her retractable staff and putting it in the special pocket she had made.

* * *

As Autumn stepped out into the crisp winter air, she took a deep breath and smiled. It wasn't fall- fittingly, her favorite season- but it wasn't freezing cold or snowing or anything. (God, she hated snow. It froze up her wings.) Besides, cold weather is good for flying.

With a smile, Autumn took to the air, heading for the roof of the library. She hadn't been lying completely to her mom when she said she was going to the library; she just hadn't mentioned how she wasn't actually going to go in.

She settled in the corner of the roof where heat leaked up out of a crack and grinned as she placed down a small machine she had found and tinkered with that gave her a sort of mini atmosphere, trapping the heat and giving her a warm little half dome.

Leaning against the place where two walls of the building came together, Autumn took out her iPod and earbuds, putting it on shuffle again and tilting her chin up slightly as the intro came on.

"**If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I'd like to do, is to save every day 'till eternity passes away, just to spend them with you..."**

Autumn knew already that she'd like this song. She checked the banner.

"Jim Croce

**Time in a Bottle**

Time in a Bottle/Greatest Love Songs."

"**I've looked around enough to know that you're the one I want to go through time with..."**

As the song continued, she sighed somewhat sadly. She wished almost more than anything that this song was directed towards her. It was so beautiful.

She sat back listening until the song ended and it switched again, but she stopped paying attention and used the music as ambience. Autumn clicked "menu" and then scrolled up to "Photos," remembering what the mysterious note-writer/gift-giver had said about pictures.

Before clicking, though, she let her mind wander to the girl who had written it. Yes, obviously it was a girl based off the handwriting, but that narrowed the possibilities to maybe half the population of Thanagar. The neat loops were overly deliberate, so she- whoever "she" was- wanted to remain anonymous.

Snapping back to her task, she hit the center button and studied the previous human owner.

There were only about ten pictures, but they were of the same people, for the most part. One or two had a little, brown-haired, brown-eyed boy. One had a man with black hair and blue eyes who obviously hadn't approved of them taking a picture as his hand was out, trying to cover the lense.

But nearly all of them were of two kids that looked about ten Earth-years old, one a boy and the other a girl.

The boy had black hair and blue eyes, and the girl had red hair and bright green eyes. They both had goofy smiles in most of the pictures, or were trying to cover their face from a surprise photo, grinning all the while anyways.

The nicest one had their arms slung over the other's shoulder, grinning. It was taken by someone else, presumably the man in the other picture, going by the angle.

Autumn grinned. They were some nice pictures. She sort of wished she could get the iPod back to them but, at the same time, was sort of happy that wasn't an option. She liked the songs on this thing.

She spent most of the day up on that roof, doodling or writing in her notebook, going through a few more chapters of her Guardians of Ga'Hoole book and listening to more of the songs on the iPod. The genre of songs seemed to fluctuate between rock and country and something in between but Autumn liked most of them.

Half an hour before the sun set, Autumn picked up her device, cleaned up her stuff and headed for home, where she took out her oboe and instantly figured out how to play Kryptonite.

* * *

Later that night, when it was dark and everyone else was asleep, Autumn remained wide awake. Staring at her ceiling, she sighed in boredom and turned towards her bookshelf, where her grandfather's journal caught her eye. She smirked and scooched to the end of her bed to grab it.

She carefully opened to the first page and, using her night vision, began to read.

_August 12, 1940_

_Well, this is sort of odd to be doing, and I know if anyone found out I was writing a journal, I would be teased even more, but I have to do something. _

_(To make this less awkward for me, I'm going to pretend that I'm addressing someone real. Perhaps this can be passed down to others of my sort.)_

_Edwin 101: I'm a fourteen year old owl Thanagarian. On this world, the one word "owl" as a description of you is a ticket to bullying. I've never had a friend that didn't leave me for some reason, and no one really cares when they see me being cornered (excluding my parents, who've never been with me when it happens). I've been working on ways to avoid them, but nothing works except for frightening them. _

_Now, when you're about four and a half feet tall and going up against hawks five to six feet tall, that's hard to do._

_Tip: knowledge and stealth scare them. They're typically used to being attacked outright and powerfully. If they don't know what will come next, they'll get nervous, especially if you know a bit about their families and themselves. Not hard to dig up, believe me. Sneak attacks will make them uneasy of you, and it may help to learn the schematics of wherever they like ganging up on you. If you know the placement of access ports, air vents and employee doors, you can hide when you pick up their footsteps coming towards you. (Subtip: utalize that owl hearing.) However, these potentially essential escapes have an annoying tendency of being locked. It wouldn't be a bad idea to learn some basic automatic locking systems and how to hack them. Keep updated on new systems- you never know when neglecting your research will come back to clip you in the wing. Trust me, I speak from experience._

_Another important thing is to keep your spirits up. When you have no one your age to talk to and your parents still have to work, you can get lonely. Add bullying to the mix, and you're practically inviting depression to take over. It won't do anyone any good to do so. A good way to avoid this is to do stuff that you like (keep it legal, please). Read, draw, take pictures, pummel punching bags, make and fly airborne obstacle courses if you want. Just do what makes you happy. I myself have been working on a server for owl Thanagarians only. I just need to work on a foolproof way of keeping out the hawks and spreading the message from there._

_This is an odd place to cut off, but I have prison sentence (I mean school) tomorrow, so this, dear reader-from-the-future, is where I leave you for now._

_-Edwin J. Pines_

Autumn smiled as she finished reading entry one. She would've liked to meet this guy. _Wonder where he is now? _She thought. _I could suggest that the site could scan the user's eye through their webcam. _

She began to turn the page, but remembered that her reading had to end there for the same reason her grandpa's writing had to end. She sighed and closed the book, putting it aside, and continued her attempts at sleep.


	7. Ren: Part IV

**A/N: Hallie: Hey... Back-stories are almost done! I'm estimating one final part for each OC after part 4. **

**In this part: Ren has some bonding with Supey and her insecurities get the best of her. **

**_I do not own Young Justice, the DC universe, or any song by WALK THE MOON._ I do own Ren and Creatonia.**

**Update: For clarification on time periods, the "burden" section of Ren's backstory takes place just after season one has ended. The couples are couples, I just didn't write moments in for them in this story. And the team still has training, even after it is formed.**

* * *

"Is he going to be okay?" Miss. Martian looked over at Black Canary, her eyes wide with concern.

The latter put a hand on the young girl's shoulders, "Superboy is going to be fine. All Kryptonians have that reaction to Kryptonite. Superman has been exposed to it more times that I can count, he always comes out fine. He just needs a bit of rest, that's all."

The entire team was thrown into shock when they saw Superboy's first experience with green Kryptonite. They had heard what it had done to Superman, but none of them had seen it

first hand. The fact that their friend and teammate was in pain and there wasn't much they could do to help, bothered them greatly.

Superboy had a tendency to be stubborn and he was ordered to get 24 hours of rest, just to make sure he was fully recovered. This was because green Kryptonite had been known to cause death to a Kryptonian. To make sure Superboy didn't get up and move around too much during his recovery, the team was told to hang with him in shifts. Robin walked out of the medical bay, signaling the end of his shift.

He made his way over to Fantasia and put a hand on her shoulder. "Good luck, Tas. You'll need it."

She stared at the boy in front of her for a few moments, "What did you do, Bird Boy?"

"Nothing! He has been pissed since I started my shift. I didn't make him irritated just to make you miserable. Now, I would have done that if Kid Mouth over there was next. But, never you."

Kid Flash looked over, "Hey!"

Tasia smirked, "Why not me?"

A grin grew on the little ninja's face, "Because you're the only one I know who can get me back good. It's our talent, we can't be against each other. We must work together."

KF walked over, "You two already work together, always. Hell, Rob… You barely let the poor girl out of your sight!"

A blush crept onto the formerly mentioned's cheeks, "N-not true."

Fantasia started to walk towards the medical bay, and then looked back over her shoulder. "True. So, insanely true. Not saying it's a bad thing… But, it's true!"

* * *

"Heeeyyyy…" Fantasia pushed open the door and peered in to Superboy's temporary room.

He was just sitting there, arms crossed, staring at nothing. Tasia walked over and sat in the chair next to his bed. He didn't even acknowledge her.

"Are you pouting?"

Nothing.

She leaned across the bed until her head blocked his view, she just stared at him with wide eyes. They stayed like that for a few minutes, until-

"RAH!" Fantasia suddenly all but shouted at the Kryptonian. This sudden noise made Superboy jump.

He glared at her, "What?!"

She snorted, "Ha! You really think glaring at me will intimidate me? I was raised and trained by Batdude. If his glare doesn't affect me, no glare will."

She sat back down in the chair, watching the Kryptonian got back into his "pouting-mode".

"Why are you all grumpy? And don't stay silent, I swear I will keep asking until I get an answer."

He turned his head towards her, "Geez. And I thought Robin was bad."

"What can I say? I'm persistent."

"No. You're annoying. And I'm not grumpy. I'm just… Nevermind."

"Just what?"

Superboy sighed, "I have a weakness."

"So? We all have a weakness." Fantasia cocked her head to the side.

"I know that. But, I'm Superboy. I'm not suppose to be taken down so easily…"

"Superman can be with Kryptonite." The boy threw a glare her way. "Not helping, got it."

"I guess… It was the first time I really had been taken down like that. I couldn't fight against it. I couldn't do anything… I felt so helpless."

"It's alright Superboy. We all have felt like that at one time or another."

The Kryptonian looked down, and then shifted so he was facing the girl completely. "What about you?"

"Huh?"

"What's your weakness? Even with your seemingly unlimited imagination powers you must have something."

"Of course I do. Mental energy."

"What is that?"

"From what I know, Creatonians have a limited amount of mental energy for every few days, and when they use their power, the energy get's used up. It's a bit like physical energy, but for the mind."

"Don't we all have that?"

"Mental energy? Yes… In a way. But, for Creatonians, it's what allows them to use their powers. For some reason, mine are more powerful than most. So, my energy gets restored after one good night's sleep. But, if I use my powers too much or for really big things, I get drained out really quick. Then I can't think straight… I end up acting like I am super drunk.

"My father once tried using his powers, which were weaker than mine, to make a portal to another dimension. He wasn't able to do it and he lost so much mental energy he was put into a coma for a month… I'm guessing if I tried it, I would be knocked out for a week. It's not like I can use my powers for anything I want. They are something to be used responsibly.

"My other weakness is I don't have my powers completely under control… But, I'm getting better at that. I also have a hard time opening up to others about… Certain things."

"How do you do it? Not let the weakness get to you?" Superboy looked down.

"I try to control and use it to my advantage, if that makes any sense. Kind of how Batman uses fear, darkness, and the unknown to his advantage."

"How do I control an element?"

Tasia smiled, "You can't, sorry to say. But, you can control the feelings it might give you afterwards: Embarrassment, anger, shame. You can't let them get to you. It happened and you can't change that. You just have to deal with it and keep moving forward."

Superboy raised his eyebrows, "'Keep moving forward'? Isn't that what Wally is always saying?"

The Creatonian looked up at the clock, "Yep. And speaking of the ginger speedster, looks like his shift is about to start. Hey, Supey, don't worry too much about what happened. We don't think any less of you. We get it."

Fantasia got up and began to walk out of the room.

"Wait, Fantasia?"

She stopped and looked back, "Yeah?"

"...Thanks." Superboy's face held a ghost of a smile.

Tasia smiled at him, "No problem, Supey."

* * *

"Heyyy, Princess," the infamous junior speedster popped up from behind Ren, who was mindlessly browsing Tumblr on her phone. "How's it hanging?"

A fond smile spread across the Creatonian girl's face as she turned to face her self-proclaimed older brother. "Not much, just trying to figure out something to do…"

"Well, lucky for you. I have arrived to cure you from your boredom!"

Ren just laughed, "I guess I am. What do you have planned for us to do?"

Wally's face suddenly was greeted with a red tint, "I was thinking we could watch a movie…?"

"Okay. What movie?"

The ginger boy looked at her meekly, "_Meet the Robinsons_?" Wally's voice had grown so quiet, Ren could barely hear him.

"Of course! You know I love to watch that movie with you!"

No one really knew why, but Wally's favorite movie was _Meet the Robinsons. _Some of the team would tease him (Robin and Artemis), but most didn't care. Ren, who also loved the movie, would always watch it with him. It kind of became a tradition. Wally had adopted Lewis/Cornelius' motto, "Keep moving forward", as his own.

Wally smiled and the two teen heroes made their way to the living room. Mount Justice was practically empty. M'gann and Conner were out shopping, much to the latter's dismay. Artemis, Aqualad, and Robin were all training with their respective mentors. They only one left, besides Ren and Wally, was Red Tornado. But, he was up in his quarters.

Ren secretly knew the reason that Wally loved this movie, even if he wouldn't straight-out tell anybody. Wally always thought he acted a lot like Wilbur from a personality standpoint, while on the other hand, he had a love for science much like Lewis/Cornelius did. That, and he secretly wanted the outgoing Robinsons as his family. They are the Robinsons, who wouldn't!

Ren loved the movie because she greatly respected and admired the insane amounts of creativity and imagination that went into making the movie. She also was a strong shipper of Franny and Cornelius.

Ren flopped down on the couch, while Wally set up the movie. After he succeeded in doing that, he took his place next to the pink-haired girl. Wally always found it annoying that Ren and Dick still had to protect their identities while in civvies. Ren was a natural redhead for Pete's sake, that was nothing that should be kept hidden. But, Wally knew better than to openly question Batman's motives.

He looked over at his right shoulder, due to feeling extra weight on it, to see that was now where Ren's head laid. She curled herself into his side as the movie began to play, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. The two cuddling while watching this movie was nothing new, and it was completely platonic of course. Wally looked down at the younger girl, they were currently watch Wilbur meeting a young Franny (not knowing it was his mother) for the first time.

Everyone knew that Ren was one of Robin's best friends, herself being even closer to the Boy Wonder than Wally. It was also well known, that they told each other everything. Well, almost everything. What they did not know was that there were some things that she would tell Wally and no one else. Ren was very prideful, she didn't like asking for help with emotional issues. She despised the idea of possibly being a burden to another person, while she would willingly take an emotional load off from another person. That person was, namely, Robin.

A few years ago, when Wally decided to proclaim himself as her nonbiological older brother, he promised to protect her from growing up and boys whose names start with the letter "R". But, he also secretly promised that he would be her shoulder to lean on, since she was usually the shoulder for everyone else. She wouldn't always come to him on her own at first, he would push her to tell him what was bothering her. She would protest at first, but would quickly relent. Ren would always apologize to Wally for dumping all of her issues on him, and he would always tell her it was fine. And it was. He really didn't mind, she had been the comforter or reassurer since she was seven years old. Ren, all of people, deserved someone to listen to her.

She was very grateful for having such an amazing friend like Wally. Ren knew that he would listen to her whenever she needed to vent. But, she constantly tried to avoid talking to him about such heavy things. Today though, something had been seriously bothering her. As she watched Wilbur push Lewis into the invisible time machine, she cringed involuntarily at the thought of burdening the ginger with her problems. Wally, on the other hand, knew the meaning of the action all too well. He paused the movie.

"Alright, Princess, what's going on in that little pink head of yours?"

"N-nothing. Really, I just thought of something weird."

"Like what? How, even after you have talked to me so many times before, do you still resist?"

Ren rolled her eyes, "You are so melodramatic."

"C'mon Princess, honestly. What's wrong?" Wally asked, a concerned expression plastered on his face.

Ren looked up at the boy with melancholy eyes, "Wally, do you think I'm a burden?"

His eyes widened with shock, "What? No! Why in the universe would you think that?"

"Let me rephrase that. Do you think Bruce thinks I am burden?" Ren seemed seriously distraught over this.

"Again I ask. Why in the universe would you think that?"

The pink-haired girl's expression grew grim, "It just hit me a few nights ago, that Uncle Bruce just got stuck with Garfield and I. I know my father had him down as the person who would take care of us if anything happened to him or my mom… But, he never expected anything to actually happen to them! So, against his will, he suddenly got stuck with two kids. I'm not saying Richard is a burden, not at all. Uncle Bruce chose to take him in. He didn't me or my brother. I just feel like I'm a nuisance to him now."

Wally was truly shocked. What brought this depressing though into the mind of a usually positive girl? Wally tried to reason with her, "He had to agree to have your father put him down. He does want you and Gar, Ren."

"He only said yes because his best friend was asking him to do it. He never actually thought he would obtain guardianship over us. I bet you he totally regrets even saying yes."

"How in the world are you bringing yourself to think these things? If Bruce didn't want you, then why are you able to get away with calling him 'Batdude'?! Or why does he call you Princess? And why hasn't he put you and Gar in foster care if he didn't want you?"

She looked up at the ranting fifteen year old, "Because he's nice?"

"No. Because he loves you and Gar just as much as he does Dick. You of all people, should know that."

Wally's reassuring words helped to get rid of her doubts a little bit, but they were no where near gone. She didn't want him to worry anymore than she already was. So, she did something she rarely did. She lied. "I guess you're right. I was just being silly. I should know he would never think of me or my brother like that."

Ren was lucky she was a decent actress, because Wally seemed to buy it. He hit play on the remote, and resumed watching the movie. Ren couldn't focus on it though, the thought kept tumbling through her mind. She knew Wally believed her lie, now she only wished she would believe it too.

* * *

"Is she alright?"

"She's been so distant and distracted lately."

The concerned voices of Fantasia's teammates echoed throughout the cave. Fantasia herself was listening from behind a wall.

'_They noticed,'_ A voice said in her mind.

She didn't care. They couldn't change what was true. They couldn't help her.

Tasia peered around the wall to see all of her teammates (except for one) gathered, and talking about her.

"Hey."

Fantasia jumped. It was Robin. She blinked, "Oh, hey."

Robin, who was leaning casually against the wall across from her, studied the girl intently. Even behind his domino mask, she could feel his sapphire eyes burn through her. The Boy Wonder was her best friend, she knew that, but would he possibly know what's wrong? What would happen if she told Robin what was bothering her? Would he think it was true for himself also? Because it wasn't. No. She can't tell him. She can't risk that.

"Are you alright?" The ebony-haired hacker stepped towards her.

"I'm fine."

"Don't give me that. I know you were eavesdropping on the rest of the team. Even they have noticed something has been off with you. If the rest of the team has, did you really think I wouldn't pick up on it right away?"

Fantasia faltered, she knew she wouldn't be able to fool Robin. "Again, I'm fine. I'm always fine."

Robin stepped even closer, they were now a mere two feet from each other, "Not true. You know you can talk to me."

Fantasia's chest tightened, she couldn't tell him. Not now. She bolted to the right, imagining a door portal to the Manor, ran through it, and closed it before Robin could follow.

* * *

Ren collapsed on her bed at Wayne Manor. She was shaking.

Why was she so stressed over this?

Over telling Richard?

He is her best friend.

No. She can't allow him to think like that.

Like her.

"Miss. Ren?" Alfred opened the door to the room.

She looked up at the man she thought of as a grandfather, and then curled up into a ball. Alfred took this as a sign that she did not want to talk. He would just wait until Master Bruce got home. The british man walked over to the bed, grabbed a blanket, and proceeded to cover the young girl with it. With one last glance over at the shaking girl, Alfred left the room.

Ren buried her head in her pillow, thoughts stabbing at her head.

_What will Garfield think?_

_Will he find out?_

_What about Bruce?_

_Will HE find out?_

_Will he get rid of us?_

_Am I right?_

_Am I a… Burden?_

Her breaths became ragged and heavy. She closed her eyes and tried to make the world go away. She just wanted the world to stop!

And it did.

All of a sudden, the city of Gotham went silent. The atmosphere around her changed. Ren looked up from her pillow, her clock had stopped. So had the wind, and the cars, and the people outside her window. Life was… frozen?

A fear gripped at Ren's heart. Had she done this? She hadn't meant to!

She closed her eyes and counted to ten. She needed to stay calm and focus.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

_Now, Imagine the world and time is unfrozen. _

Ren's eyes stayed shut, until she heard the slam of the door from below. Uncle Bruce was home. Unfrozen. She did it. She fixed things.

_I still don't have control over my powers. I can't tell Uncle Bruce. Not yet._

She curled under her covers, put on her music, and tried to forget the entire day.

* * *

Bruce entered his home, followed by Dick. Both males held an odd feeling in their chest, like something in the world was off. But, neither could place what it was.

Dick had informed Bruce on Ren's sudden vanishing. The man found it odd that his Goddaughter would run off like that. He had noticed she seemed off her game, but she was dedicated. She wouldn't normally leave like that.

Richard felt uneasy with Ren bolting like that. She has been there for him since they first met. Why wouldn't she talk to him? Did she not trust him, the way he trusted her? No matter how much he wanted to go and get her to talk to him, he knew she wanted to be alone right now. Whatever the reason.

"Master Bruce?"

"Yes, Alfred?"

"Miss. Ren has been confined in her room all evening, by her own choice. When I went to check on her, she said nothing and curled up into a ball. She was also shaking. I fear she might have become ill."

Bruce nodded his head, "Thank you for telling me Alfred. I will go check on her myself."

"Of course, Master Bruce."

* * *

As the businessman got closer to his Goddaughter's room, the music got louder. WALK THE MOON's song _Tightrope_ blasted throughout the hallway.

_In my bed, I'm rolling over_

_I'm changing, I've been the change, on the swings on the set, on the night that we met._

_And all the beads of water move up the glass_

_You speak your mind, you cannot take it back_

_Walk a tightrope, walk a little tightrope!_

He sighed. She usually listened to her music through earbuds. Blasting it through the manor was uncommon, but not unheard of. Ren only did that when she wanted to drown out the world, but she wanted the world to know it.

Bruce opened the door a crack, making the music that much louder. Ren was laying on her bed, facing the ceiling. Her eyes were closed and he face was blank. He walked over to the stereo near her bed and turned the volume down.

Her eyes did not open, "Turn it back up. They're my favorite band."

"Are you feeling alright?"

This time, one eye did open, "Mentally, yes. Health wise, not really. I have a headache."

"And blasting loud music is suppose to help this how?"

"Earbuds hurt right now. I am also kind of stressed. This calms me."

Bruce sat on the bed, "I've noticed. Why are you stressed?"

The eye closed again, "School. Hero bizz. Typical stress inducers for me."

"School usually doesn't stress you out. And about the hero thing. Dick told me you left early."

Ren put her hands over her closed eyes. Her breaths deepened, as she tried to keep calm. "The headache came on. I was afraid I might have been coming down with something. I went to get more rest… Which you are now preventing me from getting."

"And you didn't tell anyone?"

Her breaths becomes faster and louder. She snapped. She shot up into a sitting position, and her eyes snapped open. "Because I didn't want to okay! Just leave me alone!"

Bruce was taken aback. Ren never yelled. The young girl was also shocked at her own outburst.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't-"

"Ren. It's alright. You're not feeling well. And by the way you're acting, you do need rest. And I mean sleep. Not listening to music for the next four hours."

The Creationian bowed her head, "Okay. I'm fine. I'm always fine."

Ren shut off the music and crawled under her covers. Bruce did something he hadn't since she was six years old, he tucked her in.

"I'm sure you are, Princess. Goodnight."

"Night."

Bruce shut off the light and left the room. The redhead buried herself under her quilt. One last thought drifted into her mind before she fell in sleep's tempting hold.

_Why did he check on me? He's not suppose to care. Not about me._


	8. Autumn: Part IV

**A/N: Emu:_ I don't own Young Justice, the DC Universe, the iPod, or any songs mentioned._ I do own The Pines' and the Skylarks'.**

* * *

_364 days later..._

* * *

It was January 24th, the day before her tenth birthday, and as Autumn picked her stuff off the library roof yet again, she thought back to the last one she had. Smiling softly, she rubbed her thumb over the iPod she still carried almost everywhere.

"_Earth-nerd!"_

"_Why do you even carry that piece of junk around?!"_

"_Oh yeah, because she's too much of a human wannabe to settle for Thanagarian tech!"_

"_Freak! What Thanagarian would want to be a human?! They can't even fly!"_

"_I don't know, an owl might. After all, they don't belong here- maybe they'd fit better as a grounded species!"_

"_Well, we could alway rip this one's wings out and send her to Earth to find out!"_

Autumn squeezed her eyes shut and took some deep breaths as the mocking voices and harsh laughter echoed in her head. Fumbling for her earbuds, she jammed them in and played _Time in a Bottle_ as loud as her owl-hearing could stand to drown out the flashback of the day before when classmates saw her listening to her beat-up purple iPod nano.

She had heard all 140 songs on the thing multiple times, yet Time in a Bottle remained a favorite of hers. It was a really pretty song, even though it often made her feel a little alone after listening to it.

Autumn opened her eyes again and jumped off the roof, opening her wings after dropping five feet and gliding back to her house.

* * *

She woke up the next morning the same way she had a year ago- her parents yelling her name, her fists flying and then the Earth-style waffles. They packed a lunch and went to the park, Autumn grabbing her mini-atmosphere device so they wouldn't freeze. It was still winter, and there was a light dusting of snow over the grass.

They were having a good time and everything was going smoothly. Then, as they left, everything quickly went downhill and started the snowball that would leave Autumn reeling for years.

The family of three had decided to walk and took a side road as a shortcut.

Bad mistake.

Standing there was a group of maybe five Thanagarians who glared at them as they passed, but didn't seem about to do anything. Boy, was that assumption wrong.

As Autumn glanced back, one seemed to give an odd signal with his hand and just like that, they were completely surrounded by hawk Thanagarians, many of them known owl-haters. Autumn, Rima and Alon were backed further down the street and past any branching off roads, all the way to the dead-end.

Rima and Alon stood protectively in front of their daughter, Rima drawing a short dagger she always kept in a side sheath and Alon pulling out the staff from his coat. Autumn copied Alon's movement, extending the metal from the electrified stone, and got ready to fight.

There was a very brief stand-off before the crowd attacked and everything was a blur. People screamed in pain from both "friendly fire" and the three Pines' attacks.

However, there was only the three of them versus a mob, and though the family had managed to take out a good handful, they were hopelessly outnumbered.

Autumn had taken down a few, but not without taking a few hits. She had been so focused on not being beheaded by one of her opponents that she didn't notice another coming up next to her until a metal bat slammed her right in the eyes and she crumpled to the ground.

The brown-haired, blue-eyed women who had hit her knelt down next to her, a small dagger in her hand and an evil glint in her eye.

Autumn jolted as she put name to face. "M-Mrs. Skylark?" She stuttered, unbelieving.

"Yes, hello, _Pygmy,_" the woman sneered. "Funny, Gavina had told me a lot about you, but she never told me about the _abomination _you were." Her voice turned sickeningly sweet. "Ah well."

Gwendolin raised the dagger and lightly traced Autumn's eyebrows, not pressing quite hard enough to draw blood. Autumn clenched her eyes shut.

Then, with an evil smirk, the hawk-humanoid ran it over the much more tender skin of Autumn's eyelid, which was already swelling from the earlier blow. Autumn winced as blood ran down her face.

Gwendolin then moved to her other eye, and Autumn could swear she was carving a word into her eyelid this time. She felt the knife go through the lid and nick her eyeball, praying through the pain that it just scratched the surface.

The cold feeling of the knife against her skin lifted, but the warm blood kept running down her face. Tears welled in Autumn's eyes, making the cuts sting. She squinted her right eye open a fraction just as Gwendolin was raising the hilt to knock her out.

Suddenly, Rima appeared out of nowhere and, with a screech of fury, threw Gwendolin off her daughter.

Naturally, she wanted to keep going after her, but a single glance at Autumn stopped her. She instead scooped the little owl girl into her arms and took off with difficulty, the crowd trying to pull her down.

Autumn tried to open her eyes further and cried out in pain.

"Shhh, you're alright, you'll be alright," Rima soothed.

Autumn calmed a little bit and tried to keep her eyes closed.

Suddenly, an ear-wrenching scream rent the air and Autumn's eyes flew open of their own accord. The horror brought by what she saw drowned out any pain.

Her mom had an arrow protruding from her back.

Autumn heard a high-pitched _whoosh_ and another arrow sprouted from Rima's back. She started to fall, but caught herself and glided gently to the ground, laying Autumn down carefully and kneeling next to her.

Autumn's fear-filled amber eyes met her mother's light brown pair. There was pain, yes, but no fear in her gaze. Just warmth and love.

"Mom...?"

Rima smiled gently and brushed a lock of hair dangling over Autumn's eyes. "I love you Autumn. Never forget that. Your dad and I love you."

She gasped in pain and doubled over.

"Mom!" Autumn lowered Rima to the ground and tried to stop the bleeding from her mom's wounds, but she saw that the Thanagarians who had shot her had used arrows with, not only barbs, but _lethally poisonous _barbs; the poison normally used for execution sentences. There was no saving Rima Pines, but Autumn didn't want to believe it.

Rima stopped her frantic attempts. "Autumn, there's nothing you can do."

"B-but... mom... no, d-don't leave... p-p-please..." The owl girl lay next to her mom and sobbed into her shoulder.

Laboriously, Rima put an arm over Autumn's shoulder and kissed her forehead gingerly. "I love you, my little Pygmy Owl," she said. She took her arm away from Autumn's shoulders and lifted her chin so they were looking into each other's gazes. "Now go help your father."

Autumn nodded, determined, and gave her mom one last hug. She got to her feet. "Goodbye mum. I love you," she said- a final goodbye before she took to the sky.

Rima died with a small, loving smile on her face and her eyes closed.

* * *

Autumn soared back to the alley where she last saw her dad. There was blood in her eyes, but she didn't have time to wipe it away, and what vision wasn't obscured by the red liquid was swollen nearly shut anyway. Depending mainly on her hearing and her silent flight, she flew around and landed at the opening of the alley without being seen.

Squinting her eyes open as much as she could, Autumn scanned the alley for her dad. She found him fighting off pretty much three fourths of the mob. Even though a good number of them were just watching and cheering like students in a hallway fight, Alon was still hopelessly outnumbered and obviously losing.

Sneaking up on the crowd, Autumn took her staff out of her coat and beaned five people upside the head before anyone noticed her. She quickly knocked out the ones who saw before they could make a word and had managed to take care of a good handful before half the group actually realized what was going on and started to attack her.

She continued to beat them away with her staff, putting into action all her practiced strategies and utilizing the random patches of ice on the alley floor.

Half of the group had turned to her and the fight was more even for both Autumn and her father. Despite her current impairment, she was able to get into the fight even more on her superior hearing, constant practice and pure adrenaline rush. _Perhaps we actually have a chance!_

Soon, there was a carpet of unconscious Thanagarians littering Autumn's side of the alley, and she fluttered next to her dad to help more. Alon was starting to tire, but seeing his daughter's injuries gave him new fire, and he fell into step with her.

It was only a matter of time until one slipped up, though. Aiming for a nameless, faceless opponent, Autumn swung her staff. But the guy moved, revealing that Alon was right behind him. Autumn tried to stop, but she had too much momentum and cried out, "DAD, DUCK!"

Alon turned and was hit a split second later. He crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

The alley stilled at the youngest Pines' yell, but once they noticed Alon out of commision, they swarmed him, yelling. It was hard to hear anything through the din that beat at Autumn's ears, but she caught the words "traitor" and "that abomination." Autumn ran up to try and pull everyone away, but two grabbed her by the arms and dragged her back.

Autumn pretended to give up, bowing her head. When her captors loosened their grip, she twisted her right arm out and backfisted one, then kicked the other guy where the sun don't shine.

He collapsed to his knees, mouth open in a silent scream. The former man ran.

Autumn didn't notice. She ran over to the crowd and frantically tried to pry the raging Thanagarians off, to no avail.

She caught a blurred glimpse of her dad in the middle- eyes closed, curled up tightly and covered in blood- and couldn't hold it back anymore. She closed her eyes and screamed, a terrible, wild, ancestral-memory fueled territorial screech. She screamed out of frustration and pain pent up her entire life; she screamed for the trouble she caused herself and her parents; she screamed for the betrayals she'd undergone; she screamed in sorrow for the prejudiced state of her planet; but most powerful was her scream of sadness and anger for what these monsters did to her mother less than half an hour ago and what was happening to her father just then.

The bloodcurdling, furious, sorrowful sound rent the air and pierced right through their attackers. Most of them dropped their weapons and fell to their knees, clasping their hands over their ears in a futile effort to block the powerful screech, and those who didn't, ran. Gwendolyn was among the latter.

Autumn screamed until she ran out of breath. She kept her eyes closed, but listened and noticed that there was no noise other than her own breathing and the whimpers of pain from the attackers, whose ears where still ringing.

* * *

She opened her eyes just enough to locate her father and then made her way over, not caring who she was stepping on. She grabbed Alon in a brideshold and flew him out of there, though she was unable to get more than four feet off the ground with the extra weight.

_What do I do? Where do I go? There's no good access ports or hidey holes around here, _She thought frantically. _I've bought myself some time, but who knows how much._

She stopped and set down in an abandoned alley, supporting her unconscious father by putting one of his arms over her shoulders. _Good thing he's lightweight, _she thought dryly. Closing her eyes, she mentally tore through her mind attic (a little trick she had learned from Sherlock Holmes), going through the streets of her town for a suitable hiding place.

Suddenly, she remembered a little place she and Gavina had found when she was eight. She swallowed hard. Going back there wasn't ideal, but it was her best chance to save her dad.

Readjusting her hold on Alon, Autumn took off again, flying as fast as she could to the bolthole she and her past friend had shared; namely, a well-disguised opening leading to the secure crawlspace underneath the hospital. Back before the betrayal, Gavina and Screech would meet down there and hang out, and occasionally, Autumn would sneak up and listen in on the doctor's medical conversations. It had sparked her first-aid interest.

She hadn't been down there for at least a year...

Landing in the back of the building, she laid her still unconscious father gently on the ground while she cleared the entrance from the camouflaged blockage, using memory rather than vision. Carefully, she dragged Alon in and was surprised to catch a glimpse of a thick purple fleece blanket on the ground.

Autumn gulped, eyes burning again. She would've thought that Gavina would've come down and retrieved that by now.

Blinking away the tears, the owl girl made her way to the blanket, where she left her father as she covered the entrance again. Going back, she groped around next to her. If Gavina had left the blanket, surely she hadn't...

Autumn let out a muted trill as her hand found the cool plastic handle of a basic first-aid kit. It had served her well in the past, but now it was time to put it to the test again.

Picking up Alon's wrist, Autumn took his pulse. It was fast, weak and thready, but it was there.

Sighing in relief, the girl grabbed some disinfectant and a cloth before looking over Alon's injuries.

Aside from obvious expectations, such as a black eye and bruises, Alon had a few knife cuts on his arms, and there was blood sluggishly leaking from a head wound. Possible concussion, then.

She lifted up the older Thanagarian's shirt. His chest was littered with bruises, too, which meant she had to check for broken ribs.

She pressed on each section of the rib cage gently, and a few gave slightly. She reached for a bigger roll of gauze. _I wish I could just take him to the actual hospital, _she thought sadly. _But I can't risk running into that mob again. _

She bound up the worst of the wounds for the moment, then poured some disinfectant into the cloth, but the second it touched Alon, he jerked awake with a call of, "Autumn?!"

He tried to stand up to get into a fighting position, but he swayed on his feet, dazed and confused. Holding her hands out placatingly towards where she heard her dad, Autumn said, "Dad, I'm right here. I'm fine. You got a little banged up in the fight, so lay down and let me patch you-"

She was interrupted by a harsh bout of coughing from Alon. As he gasped for air between coughs, she slowly lowered him back to the ground and rubbed his back the way he had done for her countless times, except she was a bit more awkward about it.

Alon's fit ended, and Autumn sighed in relief.

Until she looked down and saw the red specks on Alon's sleeve.

Internal bleeding.

Pushing down her panic, the newly-10-year-old laid her father back down slowly. _Okay, never mind. I need to get him to the hospital. _

"Wh-where are we?" Alon's hoarse voice cut into her thoughts.

"Under the hospital," she responded quietly. "You got hurt in a mob. But I'm bringing you up for proper treatment, okay? Just stay here while I clear the entrance."

Alon nodded as he held his head, and Autumn noted that his pupils were uneven. No doubt he had a concussion, then, and possibly a bad one.

Reluctant to leave him for even a minute, but knowing her options, Autumn maneuvered through the crawl space and cleared out their exit before turning back.

The sight that met her was horrifying.

Alon was suddenly jerking around, eyes rolled back in his head and head banging against the floor. He was having a seizure.

"Dad!" She cried, running over. She searched for a pillow to put under his head but, coming up empty, ended up bunching up part of the blanket Alon was on to try and prevent any worsening of his head injuries. She knew she could do nothing to stop this, she just had to wait it out. However, Alon was running a serious risk here. In his weakened state, this seizure could kill him. A living being can only stand so much pain.

The minutes ticked by, or so it felt. Time was lost in these moments. The bandages around Alon's head steadily grew scarlet, and his breathing became more labored, likely due to his broken ribs.

Finally, the shaking and jerking slowed down, and Alon locked eyes with his daughter. Autumn was relieved, until she saw a resigned look in Alon's gaze.

"N-no... Dad, you can't. I-I already lost mom today... Please..."

"Oh, sweetie," Alon rasped. "There's nothing you can do." Autumn's brain flashed back to when she had been watching Rima's last moments a mere sixty or so minutes ago. Alon had the same loving look on his face until his features crumpled into another coughing fit.

It seemed to last forever, and more red specks joined those from before. As the coughing ended, Alon's body went limp and he stared up at Autumn.

"I love you, Autumn. I'm sorry," he whispered, his eyes dimming. "N-not... Your fault," he slurred. He summoned up the rest of his strength to rest his cold, clammy hand over Autumn's and clasp gently, and a few seconds later, his tenuous grip on life slipped. Any light left in his eyes leached away.

Autumn stared at him in tearful shock. She didn't know what to do, didn't even have it in her to scream. As tears dripped silently from amber eyes, she clasped her father's lifeless hand in hers and whispered, "Please don't leave me here..."

She didn't know how long she stayed there, silent and head bowed, but at one point she looked up to her dad's face. Reaching up slowly, she closed his still-open eyes. There was truly nothing more she could do for either of her parents...

Except one thing.

Steeling her expression and tightening her jaw, Autumn grabbed a pen, a scrap of paper and a safety pin from her kit. She scribbled onto the paper the words,

"THE HAWKS DID THIS.

Honor this man's bravery for standing up for his owl daughter."

She pinned it to her dad's shirt, before slowly dragged him out of the still-open entrance and put him where he couldn't be missed. Then she flew to the alley where she last saw her mom and did the same thing.

The only thing she could do for them now was tell the truth of what happened.


	9. Ren: Part V

**A/N: Hallie: This is Ren's final part! Autumn's will be posted as soon as Emu get's it done... Who knows when that will be.**

_**I don't own anything from DC, Disney, or music wise.**_

**I do own Ren and Creatonia.**

**Enjoy!**

**Update: For clarification on time periods, the "burden" section of Ren's backstory takes place just after season one has ended. ****The couples are couples (except for Robin and Zatanna), I just didn't write to many predominant moments for them in this story. And the team still has training, even after it is formed.**

* * *

When Ren awoke the next morning, her window was white. A blizzard had hit Gotham City. Today of all days… February 11th.

12 years.

It had been 12 long years since she lost her parents.

She sat on her window seat and stared out into the white abyss before her. Memories of that night come swirling back, chopped up and fuzzy, but there.

_80's music was playing through the speakers._

_Her parents were laughing, and Gar was sleeping._

_She was watching the snowflakes swirl around the car._

_The cold of the window as she tried to touch the snowflakes._

_The bright lights of the semi-truck coming head on._

_Her parents screams._

_The crash._

_The snap of her father's neck._

_The pained grunt of her mother, as a shard of glass pierced her chest._

Then it goes blank for a bit.

_And then she remembers, somehow, getting herself and Gar out of the car._

_The car bursting into flames._

_The sirens._

_Garfield crying, but she never shed a tear. Not until she saw her Uncle Bruce._

_The white of the hospital walls. _

Then. Nothing.

Not the funeral. Not moving into the manor. The last, and only, clear memory of her parents was their deaths. It sucked.

The last time she cried over their deaths, was when she was 6 years old. And now today, all she wanted was to break down into tears. The wind made the snow swirl around, making it seem like the world was a snow globe.

If only she liked snow.

Ever since that night, she viewed snow as a nuisance.

A cold nuisance that kills.

If it hadn't been for the blizzard, the truck wouldn't have spun out, causing her parents to die, and she wouldn't be viewed as a burden her Uncle Bruce!

It all led back to the snow. The cold, killing snow.

'_Gar.'_

The thought of her brother, entered her mind.

No matter how bad she felt, she needed to make sure he was doing alright. Ren got up from the window seat and walked out of her room.

And there was standing Richard.

"Hi."

She swallowed, "Hey."

"How are you doing today?"

"I'll deal."

The next moment she found herself in an embrace with Richard. It wasn't unusual for the two to hug, but this one felt different… More secure.

She buried her head in the crook of his neck and gripped the back of his shirt, fighting the urge to break down and tell him everything. She wanted to talk to him, she knew he understood.

So, why couldn't she?

Ren pulled away from Richard, "I better go check on Gar."

"I just did a few minutes ago. He seems to be alright for now. He fell back asleep."

She smiled, "Thanks. I still am going to peek in on him…"

"I know."

The Creatonian girl entered the room a few doors down from hers. Her ten year old brother was curled up on his bed fast asleep. She walked over to the bed and watched as his blankets moved up and down with every breath. He looked so innocent and peaceful. Gar may have begun training a few years ago, but he never had been out in the field, exposed to the true evil in the world.

Out of her entire family, Gar seemed to be the least broken, the least exposed. Probably because Ren had spent so much of her childhood protecting him. He was her baby brother. His happiness always came before hers.

Ren kissed his forehead and retreated out of the room. Richard was no longer in the hallway. It was a Thursday morning, meaning school. Great.

* * *

Bruce offered to let Ren and Gar stay home from school. They both refused.

The school day was long and boring, making it seem to drag on forever. Finally, 2:35 came up on the clock and the bell rang. Ren walked out of the doors at Gotham Academy with a sigh of relief. Tomorrow was Friday. And then mid-winter break.

Thank the heavens.

She met up with Richard, Gar, Babs, Bette, and the new girl Artemis in the courtyard. "The day is almost done, and that makes me happy."

Babs frowned, "Are you two doing alright?"

Ren and Gar looked at each other. The latter spoke up, "Yep. We're cool. Right, Rennie?"

"Don't call me Rennie."

The young boy laughed in amusement.

* * *

Gar went home, while Ren and Richard zeta beamed to the Cave.

The Team didn't end up getting a mission, but there was a lot of training. Sparring partners were as followed:

Fantasia and Kid Flash.

Artemis and Aqualad.

Robin and Miss. Martian.

Screech Owl and Superboy.

Zatanna and Rocket.

Tasia noticed straight away that KF was going easy on her. She pulled him aside after she "won" the sparring match.

"No."

The speedster looked at her as if she had gone nuts, "What?"

"You went easy on me. Do not go easy on me."

Kid Flash put a hand on her shoulder, "Sorry, Princess. But, how are you doing?"

She sighed, "I'm doing fine Kid."

"Alright… But, If you need to talk…"

"I know where to find you."

The ginger smiled before heading off to the kitchen.

* * *

Ren flopped down on her bed as soon as she got home. The neutral mask she was wearing all day began to break. Melancholy and loneliness seeped into her eyes. She missed them so much. All she wanted right then was for her mom to hug her and her dad to call her his Princess. That nickname originally came from her father.

She closed her eyes and imagined a life where she was normal. It didn't feel right. She wasn't normal… No one is her life was.

Ren picked her head up at the sound of the door opening. Her Uncle Bruce walked into the room and sat down on her bed.

"I know, you have been hearing this all day. But, how are you doing?"

All day she had answered that question with, 'I'm fine.' This time, she answered honestly, "Horrible. I miss them. Even after twelve years."

"Has it really been that long?"

"Yep. Twelve parentless years."

She looked over at the man who had cared for her all these years. Why was he here? He didn't care. Did he?

No. She was just a burden. That's all.

Bruce looked back at her, "What?"

"Nothing."

"No… There is something. You have been acting really odd lately. Very moody."

"Well, I am a teenage girl stuck in a house full of guys."

"Not what I mean."

Ren glared at Bruce, "Then what do you mean? You never actually say what you mean! Can you stop acting like Bats for one moment and just be… you?"

"What if this is me?"

"Then I was right."

"Right about what?"

"You don't care."

Bruce went silent for a few moments, "About what?"

"Me."

The room went silent. Ren felt a weight lift off her chest as she put what she thought was the truth out there. Bruce, on the other hand, felt a weight get put onto his.

How long had she felt this way? How had he not noticed? What made her think this way? He swallowed, "Why would you think I don't care about you?"

Ren let out a bitter laugh, "I don't doubt you care about Richard, or even my brother. Kind of weird since you think of us as a burden."

"A what?!"

"Don't deny it Bruce, you didn't want us. You just got stuck with us. In your prime no less. Richard, you chose to take in. I know you love him. He's your son. But, Gar and I… We are just your annoying Godkids that got put with you when my parents died."

Bruce was astonished. Had he made her think this way? Had he given off that sort of vibe?

Had he made her feel that she wasn't wanted?

"You are not a burden. And neither is your brother."

Ren glanced at the man next to her. _Could he be telling the truth?_

_No!_

_Don't let him trick you._

"You're lying."

"Why would I do that? If I thought you were such a burden, then why would I have had you stick around? And if you really thought you were a burden, why haven't you left?"

"I thought about it."

And she did, for nights at a time. But, she never could bring herself to leave. She couldn't leave her brother or Richard. She wouldn't break her promise.

"And…"

"I couldn't. I just couldn't leave the people who do care about me."

Bruce was growing frustrated and worried at the accusation Ren was making. "I do care about you."

Ren, on the other hand, was growing angry with Bruce for consistently lying to her. "No, you don't. You never did. I'm just a burden to you. The only guardians who cared about me were my parents!"

The more she talked, the louder she became.

Bruce stayed silent as he watched his Goddaughter creep further and further towards a full break down.

"You are forced to be my guardian. I'm not important. I'm nothing…"

By this time she was more talking to herself than she was Bruce.

"I'm fine. I'm always fine…"

Bruce began to rub her back, trying to calm her down. Ren froze at her Godfather's simple, yet caring gesture. Somehow, it sent her over the edge and she broke down. She lent into him, tears welling up in her eyes. Bruce put his arms around the girl, and held her like her dad used to.

"I miss daddy and mom…"

"I know. I do too."

Ren wasn't full out sobbing, but tears were making their way down her face. Her breaths were ragged. This was the first time she had cried in years.

And it felt good.

It felt so nice to know that she didn't have to be the strong one for once. The comforter. That she also could break down, without judgement.

"I believe you." Ren's tears had stopped and she had begun to calm down.

"What?"

"I believe you, when you said I'm not a burden and that you care about me. I'm sorry I ever thought differently…"

"It's alright Princess. You had brought an emotional burden up on yourself, and that affected your thinking. Plus, you are very bull-headed when it comes to what you have your mind set to."

Ren sat up, "Heh… I've been told that before."

Bruce gave her a warm smile, "You've had a long day. Get some rest."

"Okay, Uncle Bruce."

"And for the record Ren, I know your parents would be very proud with what you have become."

"And I know my parents would be very proud with how you have raised me."

Those set of words hit hard with Bruce. He swallowed and gave a small smile, "Goodnight, Ren."

He closed the door.

* * *

In the days the followed Fantasia's break down, the team noticed a significant improvement in her mood and attitude. She was smiling again, back on her "A" game, and being the trolling partner-in-crime with Robin again.

The Team had just come back from a mission against the League of Shadows. They had returned to the cave for some much needed down time.

Movie night was decided and it was Fantasia's turn to chose the movie. She picked one of her favorites, Wreck-It Ralph.

Tasia was squished between Robin and the end of the couch. Screech was on a chair next to her, KF was next to Rob, Artemis next to him, with Aqualad on the opposite end. M'gann and Conner were curled up on the floor under a pile of blankets. And Zatanna and Rocket laid on their stomachs next to them.

The Creatonian curled up into her best friend and looked around the room. She observed her teammates and smiled at the fact that, this was her family. The Team was a family to all of them, especially since some of them didn't have a real family to call their own. During all of the time she had spent with her friends, these moments were the ones she cherished most.

No attacks. No training. No drama. No looming threats.

It was simple. It was good.

And she was content.


	10. Autumn: Part V

**Hallie: FINALLY. Emu has completed it. You haven't heard from her much on this story because I am in charge of posting the chapters... Kinda a control-freak about that. This last part may be long, but it is one of my favorite parts. :)**

**Emu does not own Thanagar, the Justice League (Hawkwoman), or the DC/YJ Universe.**

** She does own Autumn, Gavina, and numerous side characters that meet Autumn. **

* * *

Autumn flew up to her corner of the roof to think about what she should do next. While up there, she looked down at her clasped hands and noticed something she had somehow missed before- they were red. Blood red.

Staring at the drying liquid, a combination of the lifeblood of at least three people, she knew she would never be able to truly scrub that off. Her hands were stained.

As much as Autumn wanted to break down and cry, she knew that it was not a possibility. The mob would be looking for her and-

_I have no where safe to go, _she realized with a sudden jolt. The crawlspace wasn't self sufficient, anyone could look up her house, all of her relatives were either dead or owl-haters, and no matter where she moved, there was a chance that this sort of riot could happen again.

_There's no where on Thanagar that I can go. That means... I have to leave. _

The ten year old squeezed her eyes shut and huddled further into the corner of the library roof, thanking every god she could think of that she had thought to add a camouflage setting to her atmosphere orb. She was safe for the moment.

She looked up. The three moons were shining over Thanagar, full and bright, though still blurry from her perspective. Autumn stared, unable to take her eyes away. She felt like she was caught in a three-way gaze, like there were people watching over her.

She shook her head to clear it of the notion. It was a nice thought, but not one to be dwelled on then. She had work to do.

Keeping her orb on, Autumn flew back to her house. It was risky, but she needed supplies and would prefer not to steal.

Besides, she had nothing to lose and no one to watch after now.

Her house was empty and dark when she got there, and the door was still locked. Autumn sighed in relief as she opened the door with her keys (miraculously still on her person), but stumbled on something- a box wrapped in brown paper. She grumbled, quietly cursing Gwyndolin for the knife attack that currently impaired her vision. She was lucky it wasn't worse... that her mom jumped in to save her...

Firmly shaking the thought away, she bent down and picked up the box, surprised at how heavy it was. After she put it down, the girl made a beeline for the kitchen sink to at least physically wash away the dried substance on her hands.

As the owl dried her hands, a pile of wrapped presents caught her attention from the kitchen table and she stopped. She never had gotten to see what her parents got her that year.

_Well, they tend to give practical gifts. Maybe there will be something helpful, _she thought, convincing herself into it.

Indeed, there was. There was a hard drive of her grandpa's "owl's only" server, a high-tech tablet, some more earth books (including an atlas), and a black leather belt.

Confused about the belt, the owl girl picked it up and inspected it. She found a thumbprint scanner behind the buckle and hit it.

With a quick flutter of movement, the belt was suddenly a satchel, the strap still hooked under her belt loops. Looking in, Autumn saw that it was bigger on the inside. Grinning, she remembered- this was some new tech that allowed more space for things to be carried and reduced the weight. This would be helpful indeed.

She put it on and threw in her orb before going to the kitchen, throwing every bit of non-perishable, ready-made food into her bag, along with some fruit. Then she got clothes, first aid and hygiene items from her bathroom. Once she had the essentials, she went running around her house for anything personal she may want to grab. She grabbed her birthday presents from the kitchen table, then ran to her room. She picked up any writing and sketching utensils off her desk, reading material (comics, textbooks, her grandpa's notebook and other books she's been meaning to read) off her bookshelf, snatched her iPod and its accessories from under her pillow and her oboe from her closet and stashed it all into her new satchel.

As Autumn started back towards the kitchen, a glint caught the corner of her eye and she stopped.

It was a picture of herself, Rima and Alon, dated at just a month before. It depicted a gleeful family of three, all three grinning brightly, faces marred only with subtle, everyday troubles. To any onlooker, they were a normal, carefree family.

With no hesitation, the picture was carefully stored in the bag, which was then turned back into a belt.

Lastly, she went to the box on the table. There was no label , and it obviously wasn't sent by mail. Someone had dropped it off personally.

Warily eyeing the box, as well as she was able to, Autumn slowly unwrapped and opened it. She saw a piece of folded paper first, with her name on it.

The owl girl picked it up and unfolded it, then squinted, trying to read it.

Autumn,

I am so sorry for what happened tonight! This never should have happened to you or your parents; you're all amazing people.

I hope what's in this box can help you, wherever you go next. It's medical grade and supposed to specialize in healing eye injuries. I already calibrated it to settings that should work for you. Just clean off your eyelids and put the suction cups over them, then press start, keep your eyes open and let it do its thing. Pretty simple for a medical machine, but I'm not sure how effective it will be, especially if you've waited a while to try it. It should work pretty quickly, but just in case, you might want to hide in case they go for your house. Keep those ears alert.

Once you're done, I would suggest hightailing it off this planet. Get to the air docks as fast as possible, and look for the FTLS Wolf Run. It's a cargo ship and her captain, Jason Swallow, doesn't mind owls. He should be able to help you, and I'll see what I can do, too.

It would be unfair to wish you a happy birthday, so I'm just gonna say good luck and stay safe.

Love,

The loopy lettering was sloppier than the year before, but it was definitely the mystery girl who had given her the oboe and iPod when she turned nine.

Putting the note in her bag in case she forgot the ship name, Autumn moved to the box, where there lay a strange white machine surrounded by protective foam pellets. She removed the item from them and examined it.

It was a metal cube, approximately 10 inches long on all sides and 3 inches high, with two tubes sticking out, ending in oval shaped suction cups. There was a panel of buttons and dials in the front, alongside one big green button labeled "Start."

Autumn was suspicious, but if this machine was actually harmful, what did she really have to lose? She went into the bathroom and washed the dried blood off, then dried them with a towel. The bleeding had finally stopped, but the swelling hadn't- she was going to have a pretty bad black eye.

She didn't inspect the wounds too much. Heeding the advice of hiding, she went up to the attic with the machine. Little particles of dirt and other materials floated in the bright moonlight that streamed in through a few grimy windows. The owl chuckled darkly; she used to be scared of the dusty room, with all its unknown, hidden away contents. Now it was potentially keeping her safe.

Huddling up in the corner, she followed the instructions on the notes. She fixed the suction cups over her eyes and, after fighting to open her left eye fully, pressed the start button.

Instantly, the suction cups pressed themselves to her face and a cool blue light turned on. Autumn couldn't close her eyes anymore, even if she tried. A darker section of the light scanned her eyes and after a few seconds, she felt a sort of sting, especially on the left. It felt like part of her eye was being melted together and she winced, instinctively trying to close her eyes but unable to. She teared up, but a few seconds of suction every once and a while dried it up.

She didn't know how long it was before the machine beeped and the light turned green. She was able to close her eyes now and did so with relief, until she realized that now, she couldn't open them.

She hadn't noticed before, but on her left eyelid, she could see through to the green light in some spots; seemingly random thin, lines. That meant Gwyndolin had cut all the way through. Who knew how long that would take to-

A sharp pain interrupted Autumn's thoughts, and slowly, the gaps she saw slowly closed, like the skin was knitting itself back together.

When it was covered, the owl saw that she could see a brighter red in the lines where she had just seen the green light. "So, I have a scar now I suppose. Great," she said to herself.

Finally, the light went away and the machine beeped, releasing the suction cups from Autumn's face.

She pulled away and blinked, relieved when she only felt the slightest pinch of pain. She could see the entire room much more clearly, which was a relief. But she had honestly expected some sort of damage from that.

Confused, she went up to the machine to check the screen for a diagnosis.

_**Scratches on both eyelids and corneas healed to greatest extent. Definite scars on the left eyelid and a possibility of permanent minor daysight damage from large distances. Nightsight is unchanged.**_

_Oh. Well, that explains it. Guess I'll be nearsighted when the sun comes up._

There were pictures on the screen too, a before and two afters. Curious, she took a peek. The "before" pictures didn't really bug her; she wasn't squeamish and had seen it already that day. It was the second set of "after" pictures that shook her up.

There, raggedly scratched into her left eyelid, was a word she knew would remain there forever.

_FREAK_

Gingerly, she placed her fingertips over the scars. She could almost feel them burning- a constant reminder. She closed her eyes, but now that she knew what the lighter lines were, she couldn't help but see it. It didn't matter how far she ran from Thanagar. She now had a souvenir, a constant reminder of her planet and her past.

Autumn sunk to the ground and tucked her knees up under her chin. The owl girl was used to name calling, and "freak" had been a favorite among her classmates. But for one to carve the word into her, and someone she had once been on good terms with... How could someone do that?

Blinking back any tears, Autumn stood up. She had no time for this, she had to move. Leave, now more than ever.

After checking she had everything she would need in her satchel a few more times, Autumn turned it back into a belt and ran downstairs and outside. She listened for any noise that could suggest approaching people and was very glad she did; a large group of people were coming her way, most by air and a few by foot. Cliche though it was, she leapt behind the thick, if bare, bushes in front of her house to hide. Quickly reopening her satchel, she took out her orb and fumbled with it. A few buttons later, she was masked from sight again. Nevertheless, she curled up and held her breath as the Thanagarians thundered by and into her house.

A statue in the bushes, she listened to the yelling and sounds of breaking items with perfect clarity, unable to block anything out from such a short distance.

The owl opened her eyes and glanced around. No one was anywhere near her. Maybe she could sneak away unnoticed.

She had gotten no more than a half-crawled step towards the exit of her hiding place when something made her stop. Scraping. A crackle, a pop. A sort of roar. Wild, deranged cheering.

The girl turned around slowly, almost sure of what it was but afraid of what she would see.

Sure enough, part of her house was being swallowed by flames and it was quickly spreading. Plumes of dark smoke billowed upwards, and the firelight made the frosted grass shimmer orange.

Autumn stood in shocked silence, horrified but unable to look away as her home, her childhood sanctuary started burning to the ground. She had been about to leave, but she hadn't wanted this to happen...

They had meant to catch her in there.

The thought hit Autumn like a ton of bricks. They were trying to kill her... Again. The second time in just as many days.

The owl girl couldn't move, even as the fire crept closer to the bushes hiding her. Realization paralyzed her until the heat brushed her skin. Autumn leapt up, panicked as the flames gently licked her bare arm. Clutching her device like a lifeline, she scampered away like a frightened animal.

She ran blindly through the streets, just trying to get away. Away from everything. When she looked up again, she was in the main part of the town. Dashing into a familiar alley, she did some quick hacking and hid in one of her boltholes.

"_Calm down, calm down, calm down..."_

Closing her eyes and taking deep breaths seemed to help. Once Autumn got her heart to slow down enough that her vision wasn't pulsing, she noticed a pain in her arm and looked down.

A patch of the skin was bright red from the flames. It was still hot and, in true injury fashion, the pain hit full force as soon as she noticed the source. Sucking in a sharp, short breath, Autumn fished out a bottle of water from her satchel and slowly poured it over the burn, soothing the heat slightly. Then she grabbed some bandages and wrapped it up, wishing she had thought to put burn salve in her bag. Thankfully, it was a minor burn. Then she put everything away and switched her pouch back to a belt. She turned off her orb, too. The time limit was almost up anyway.

She stayed hidden for a little longer, convincing herself to go. The airdock wasn't too far, and besides, it seemed everyone who might want to hurt her was busy burning her house to the ground.

Eyes stinging, she slipped out of the access vent she had taken refuge in and looked around to be sure the coast was clear. Opting to stay on the ground, she darted through open places and hid in the alleys, making infuriatingly slow progress to her destination.

When the ships finally came into sight, Autumn's heart leaped- though that also could've been the hands that grabbed her from behind. She was dragged backwards despite her struggling. A large, rough hand was clamped over her mouth and she struggled harder, kicking someone in the shin. This elicited a curse. "Hurry up! She's stronger than she looks!"

"Going as fast as I can!"

"Aw, just forget it!"

The hand covering her mouth reached up to pinch her nose shut, too, and despite her best efforts, the owl couldn't get away. Black started to cloud her vision and the next thing she knew was oblivion.

She woke up to blurred talking and the feel of cold metal on her face. She stirred, then remembered what had happened and tried to stay still, hoping whoever was around wouldn't notice that she was awake.

They did.

The talking grew to shouting and she winced as the sound hit her ears like a tsunami. Not bothering to figure out what was being said, the owl sat up and tried to take stock of her situation.

The first thing she noticed was the bars. The two Thanagarians had put her in a cage. A padlock kept the door closed, and she didn't know how to pick locks.

Swallowing hard and tearing her eyes from her confines, Autumn turned to herself.

Her coat was gone, which meant that her staff was, too. Her belt was still in place, but she didn't dare check the pouch. The most helpful thing she had in there for this moment was food and water, anyway. There were hand-shaped bruises on her arms and her head hurt a bit. Rolling up her dirtied pant leg, she saw more bruises. She must've been dragged here.

But... where was "here"?

Gazing past the bars revealed a large crowd of hawks in a sea around her cage, some armed, about as big as the mob from... how long ago was that? A day? Two?

_What is this, some sort of convention week?_

Ignoring the bitterly sarcastic voice in the back of her head, Autumn looked beyond and around the crowd. They were inside some giant building, well kept but unused. Probably a storage facility of sorts. There were no windows, and dim yellow lights suspended from the ceiling provided illumination. The back of the room was blurred.

_Yep, nearsighted. Perfect. _

The owl sighed as she gazed around. She was surrounded, caged, unarmed, and didn't even know where she was. No one was coming for her. She was entirely at their mercy. The entire thing seemed hopeless, and all the yelling didn't help.

She hated it.

Suddenly, someone broke away from the group. They ran toward the cage and before she could blink, there was a wooden rod coming for her face.

Barely able to block it (which resulted in another bruise), the girl scrambled backwards. Her wings hit the bars on the other side and someone plucked a handful of feathers.

Autumn jumped up with a yelp, but the two had started something and a wave of winged captors surged towards the cage.

Desperately trying to stay out of reach, the owl leapt for the bars that formed her ceiling and pulled up her legs, but someone slapped her hands off and she fell. She stayed huddled in the middle of the metal floor, protecting her head as well as she could.

They stopped eventually, and people started to trickle out. More than one glare and rude comment was thrown at her. Autumn stayed still and stared at a speck of dust until she mustered up enough will to get up and try to find a way out. Of course, there wasn't one.

Then ten-year-old heard her stomach growl, but ignored it and curled up again, allowing herself to fall into an exhausted doze.

While Autumn was dead to the world, Gavina crept into the building with her once-friend's coat in hand. She knew what her mom had done- how could she not, when Gwendolen had been so smug?- and had to do something to stop it.

Guilt stabbed fiercely at the hawk when she saw the pitiful form of the young owl huddled in the cage. Not wanting to wake her, Gavina carefully slid the brown coat through the bars. She turned and left the building with a small smile and a door slam that echoed through the mostly empty space. Luckily, it had the intended effect of waking Autumn, who shot up into a sitting position.

She winced as the movement pulled at sore muscles, but glanced around. Her entire face lit up when she spotted her coat, and she instantly pounced on it and opened the hidden pocket. She was thinking that she might be able to use her staff to bend some of the bars if it was still there, but just after finding it, her hand hit another piece of metal that she knew wasn't there before.

She drew it out and gasped. There, in her hand, sat a small, silver key.

After staring wide-eyed at her palm for a few seconds, her keen ears caught the sound of footsteps coming to the door of the place. She curled around her coat to hide it and held her breath before reminding herself that she should act as though she were asleep. Attempting to keep her breaths steady, she waited for the door to open and someone to come in, but instead, they just walked past.

Letting out a sigh of relief, the owl allowed herself a tentative amount of hope as she reached for the padlock, awkwardly twisting her arm to fit the key in the keyhole and praying all the while that she wouldn't drop it.

_Click._

The padlock swung open and Autumn grinned. Slipping on her coat and taking out her staff, she opened the door and dropped down to the floor. Not really knowing why, she stopped to grab the key from the padlock and slipped it in her pocket before she crept out the door, making sure there wasn't anyone out there.

She found another note just outside.

Remember, get to the _FTLS Wolf Run _and talk to Captain Swallow. I told him to keep an eye out for you. He'll get you out of here.

Autumn smiled. _She must've given me the key. Wish I could thank her, but I should probably do as she says. Time to go._

Fishing her orb out of her pouch, the girl turned on camouflage and started walking to the air docks, being sure to avoid any audio detection. A quick jog down a few rows found the _Wolf Run. _She was a fair sized cargo ship, a slightly old model but incredibly well maintained_. _Autumn felt like she could inspect the entire ship and not find more than a few scratches. Outside of the open hatch stood a young man with red hair, dusty brown wings, a clean shaven face and light blue eyes. A captain's hat rested on his head and he seemed to be looking for someone.

Autumn silently walked up in front of him. "Are you Captain Swallow?"

The man jumped, but nodded. Still looking ahead, he muttered quietly, "I am."

"My name's Autumn. I was told you could help me?"

"Oh, you must be that owl girl! Yes, come with me."

He turned and walked into his ship, and Autumn followed.

Jason looked around quizzically. "Are you in here?"

"Yes," the owl replied from behind him.

The Captain chuckled as he closed the hatch and faced where he thought the girl was. "You're good at that. But you can stop hiding now, I won't hurt you."

She turned off the orb and appeared. "That'd be nice."

Jason shot her a sad look, then snapped out of it and clapped his hands together with a smile. "So! Here's what's going to happen. I'll take you to the end of my delivery line, which is at Space Station Clandestine. I'll have to let you go there, but I'll give you some money so you can board another ship. There are other aliens there, not just Thanagarians, so you should be fine. Where are you going, anyway?"

The owl shrugged. "I really don't know. I'll probably just hop on a random ship."

"Ah."

There was a few minutes of loud silence before he continued talking. "We should get you situated. You're probably hungry, right? I heard about what happened- so, so sorry about that. I have some snacks on board, but it's not much and I seriously need to restock..."

"It's fine, sir. I have food on me."

"Oh, well that makes things easier, huh? And no need to call me sir. I'm not that old. You can just call me Jay. Why don't you eat and I'll prep the ship for take off? And before I forget," he walked over to a huge, elaborately carved wooden trunk and opened it. "You see this?"

The young Pines nodded, and the redhead continued. "Ships are randomly subjected to searches before leaving Thanagar. I, unfortunately, don't have a secret compartment on this thing so when we pass, you hide in this and I'll lock it behind you as a precaution, then let you out when they're behind us. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Great. I'll go start the ship, you make yourself at home." The man smiled, closed the trunk and walked to the control panel, sitting in the pilot's chair.

As the engines slowly started to whirr, Autumn sat with her back against the wall and opened her pouch, taking out an apple and eating it quickly.

Suddenly, she heard a skin-on-skin slap from Jason as he facepalmed and turned off the engines. "I'm sorry, I just remembered I needed to refuel. While I'm out, I'm going to restock on food. Just stay here and if anyone comes in, hide. If it's me, I'll knock once. Got it?"

She nodded and he started to leave.

Just before he opened the door, the owl narrowed her eyes slightly and asked, "Why are you helping me?"

He smiled softly as he pressed the button to open the door. "I had a cousin who was an owl. She was older than me, but always really nice. I was too young to understand that her life was miserable, or why. Also, my niece had a close friend in that group. I never got to meet the girl, but I heard a lot about her. Really sweet kid. There's no reason to hate the owls, so I help them when I can."

Autumn was rendered speechless for a few seconds before she recomposed herself. "That's really nice of you, s- Jay."

He shook his head. "Treating others like fellow sentient beings isn't nice, it's just right."

And with that, he was gone, the door closing behind him.

The owl stared at the hinged metal slab, a small smile growing on her face, before she decided to take a seat against the opposite wall. She opened her pouch to take out a bottle of water and her fingertips brushed her tablet, sparking an idea.

Taking out the water, her tablet and the hard drive with her grandpa's server, she promptly downed half the bottle and downloaded the nearly complete server to the thin device. Fifteen minutes later, she had finished and set up a security program that she had been working on, only permitting owls. She put it up online, which took another five minutes, then put up the first post.

_My grandfather, Edwin Pines, started making this server for owls to support, help, and bond with each other. I finished it. However, I can't stay to monitor it. I, therefore, leave it to the owl population and hope you use it well. And don't worry, as long as you're not too careless, hawks can't get on._

_~Autumn S. Pines_

The Captain still wasn't back, so another idea hatched in Autumn's mind. Opening a note, she started typing. Once finished, she quickly proofread, racked her brains for anything she might have missed, then copied it all. Making an account on a few blogging and social media sites, she posted what she had written, put as many tags as possible on it, and hoped someone would find it.

Just after she hit enter to post to OnTheWing, there was a single knock on the door and it opened as she smiled. Looking up, she was greeted with the sight of Jay laden with bags of food and an empty fuel container. "Sorry I took so long," he told her, putting down the bags and closing the door again.

"It's fine."

The food was quickly put away and Jay sat down at the pilot's seat again, turning around to gesture to the co-pilot's.

Raising her eyebrows slightly, the owl slipped the tablet into her pouch, followed the gesture and sat down on the plushy seat. Jason's playful smile told her she should probably buckle up, so she did.

"Ready for take off," the Captain said, and started the engines with a roar. The ship plowed through the atmosphere. The two were thrown back into their seats, and Jason chuckled as the owl screamed in surprise, until she started laughing herself with a loud whoop.

The flight smoothed out as they entered space and the owl gazed around, awed.

"You think this is cool? Look out of the back window," Jay told her.

Unbuckling and getting out of her seat, Autumn walked to the other window and stared. Thanagar already looked small, insignificant even. A hint of sadness tinged her excitement. She was leaving behind everything she had ever known, but she couldn't deny that she had wanted to travel to other planets for a long time. Perhaps she could start another life somewhere.

The two flew along until they reached the security border. Jay sent Autumn into the trunk and locked it behind her. To keep her mind off the lock, she took out her tablet and grinned. Four people named Ava Sonnen, Gwaine Aiken, Merle Weber and Gavin Stark had already found her server, promising to take care of it. The girl thanked them and made them the official admins. They asked why she wasn't able to manage the site herself, so in response she gave them the link to her OnTheWing post with a request to read it and act as they saw fit.

* * *

Meanwhile, Gavina was browsing OnTheWing as Skyborne and came across Autumn's post. She began to read it, eyes growing wider the further down the page she got. Of course she had known her mom had hurt Autumn, the woman had come back to the house muttering about the interruption. But to read it from Autumn's perspective was painful. By the time she finished, tears were streaming down her cheeks.

_Two people died on January 25th of this year (2008). Loving parents, brilliant inventors, friendly, generous Thanagarians. _

_No matter what anyone tells you, this was no accident. It was a mob, a hate crime, that killed Alon and Rima Pines. I was there. Rima pulled me away from the fight when Gwyndolin Skylark pinned me and ran her knife over my eyelids hard enough to cut through. Slowly. Deliberately. _

_Rima got hit by a poisonous, barbed arrow in the process of saving me. I suppose it was stolen from the executioner's stores. There was no way I could help her, so I honored her last wish- to help her husband, Alon. _

_I fought alongside him. We were so close to escape and doing so well, until I made a fatal mistake; I missed. The man I aimed for ducked at the last moment, and there stood Alon. I couldn't stop my swing and, despite my warning, Alon was nailed in the head. He probably would've been fine in the long run, if they hadn't honed attacks on him as he collapsed to the ground. I flew him away from the fray when they did. I tried to save him. I tried to stop the bleeding, but he was concussed and confused. Keeping him calm was an impossibility, and his broken ribs made it worse. _

_I went to clear the exit of my hiding place to risk the mob and get him to the hospital, to get him help, but when I turned back, he was jerking and shuddering. He was having a seizure. I could do nothing but watch, and in his weakened state, this was the last straw. He regained lucidity in his final moments. His last words were, "Not your fault." _

_I watched the light in his eyes fade out. I saw his chest stop moving. I watched him die, knowing that I was, in fact, to blame. If I had just brought him straight to the hospital, kept track of his location in the fight, avoided or fought harder against Gwyndolin, warned Rima of the arrow, convinced them to fly home or stick to the main roads... They would still be alive. My former home would still be standing. We would probably be in the living room eating leftover birthday cake and laughing at some story of a random, but harmless explosion in the labs that left some workers' hair sticking straight back for an hour. As it is, all I can do for them now is to tell their story._

_And why were they put through this? Why were two bright lights snuffed out? Entirely because of me. Because I, their daughter, Autumn Pines, am your Duck Overlord. _

_Why are you hawks so against us? We're not much different. Yes, our wings aren't as big and are set lower with different plumage. We have better hearing and night vision. Our serrated feathers cause silent flight. We tend to be insomniacs and prefer nightlife. We stay smaller, grow slower and live longer on average (assuming nothing tragic happens). _

_But we're all Thanagarians. Hawk or owl, we fly- it's who we are. We have personalities, self awareness and emotions. We go to the same schools and try to learn the same things while there. Even our molting cycles play out the same._

_The biggest difference is that owls are discriminated against. Why? Are you scared of us? It's not like we're all insane. If you ask me, seeing it all laid out on the table makes everyone look really stupid. There's no good reason why we shouldn't be treated the same way. In our hearts and souls, we're no different than you. _

_Please remember me. Remember the torment placed upon a formerly happy family of three on the day of January 25, 2008. A day that was meant to be a happy celebration of the birth of the owl girl who caused all this to happen simply by being born into this biased society. Please don't let it happen to anyone else, and if it does, don't leave them with nowhere to go. _

_Like me. _

_I'm leaving Thanagar. For good. I don't know what will happen to me, but even Hell would be better than this place. I wouldn't wish this upon anyone, not even the person who shot the arrow that killed my mom or the entire mob that attacked us with no provocation. _

_If this goes to plan, I'm never coming back. I'll probably be gone by the time anyone reads this. _

_If anyone thinks it's worth it, share my story. Don't forget Rima and Alon Pines, two innocents killed for taking care of their daughter. _

_Or let my voice fade away. I won't be here to scold you. _

_Even take Gwyndolin's side if you want- that I'm a freak, as she so kindly reminded me by carving the word into my eyelid. It's there forever now. _

_Goodbye, Thanagar. _

_~Autumn S. Pines._

_P.S., whoever helped me with my eye and out of that cage, thank you. Thank you so much. I hope you don't mind an unpaid debt._

"Of course I don't, Pygmy," Gavina whispered. After a few moments, she clicked the share button and reposted it to every site she had an account on.

Seconds later, Ava, Gwaine, Merle and Gavin did the same.

* * *

Autumn saw the notifications right before she lost internet connection. She didn't recognize the usernames, but she silently thanked Skyborne, Soarin'Alone, OakenWarrior, StoryWeb and StarklySnarky.

She put down the tablet and lay still in the darkness of the trunk, waiting for Jay to call the all clear and let her out.

She'd have to wait a little longer though. They had been chosen for a search.

"What're you carrying?"

"Various cargo. Nothing incredibly interesting," Jay responded.

"Well, we'll judge that."

"Be my guest."

The security officers snooped around a bit, and Autumn held her breath as one stopped directly by the trunk. She exhaled when they did nothing.

"Sorry for interrupting, Captain. We'll be on our way."

"No trouble."

"What's in this trunk?" The man besides her asked.

"I don't know. It's illegal to go through other people's mail."

"...Right. Fly safely, now."

"Yes sir."

The officers left and Jason unlocked the trunk. "That was a close one."

"I'd say," Autumn replied as she scrambled out.

The rest of the flight went smoothly. The two talked a bit- or rather, Jason talked and Autumn listened, commenting every once in a while. They weren't subjected to anymore random searches, to Autumn's great relief.

All too soon, though, they arrived at Clandestine and it was time for Autumn to leave. Jay slipped some money into her hand, which she put in her pocket.

She smiled. "Thanks again, Jay. I never would've gotten away without you."

"It was no problem, Autumn. Good luck. I'd say 'keep in touch' but, well.."

"Yeah. That'd be a little tricky."

After a pause, the owl turned to leave. She had only taken a few steps when she whirled around and ran back at the Captain, hugging him around his waist. In response, he picked the girl up and hugged her.

She pulled away slightly and wiped a tear away. "Sorry."

"No need."

She chuckled. "I think I might go to Earth. If you get a chance someday, perhaps you could stop by."

"I just might."

The two wrapped up goodbyes, the owl watching as Jay took off, back to Thanagar. She then grabbed a ship schedule, finding one that went past Earth and, though it didn't land there, offered a way down by pod.

_Wow, lucky break. Nice change._

Buying a ticket, she boarded the ship, placed a request for a let-off at Earth, and chose a window seat in the back. She promptly lost herself in a book, only looking up to watch the take off and get another look at the stars.

Time was lost to the girl, and before she knew it her stop was called. Putting her book away, she made her way down the narrow aisle, trying to avoid running into the people who decided sitting with their legs in the way was a great idea.

She rolled her eyes. _Idiots._

Finally, she made it to the pod entrance and buckled herself in. She and the pilot- a young woman, barely older than a teen, with bright red skin and black hair- were the only two in it, and there was a very awkward silence as the pilot focused on driving. Autumn decided that the lady wasn't good with kids or something, and stared out the window.

Her eyes landed on the blue and green marble that was planet Earth and she grinned. It looked amazing from here.

"Where to, kid?" The pilot asked suddenly and Autumn started.

She shrugged. "Anywhere, really. Preferably somewhere with English as the predominate language, please."

With a nod, the woman set some coordinates into the pod and let it go on autopilot. She leaned back in her seat and looked at the owl. "What's your name?"

"I'm Autumn. And you are...?"

"Name's Aine. And before you say anything, no, I didn't spend too long suntanning."

"I wasn't gonna say anything."

Aine raised a disbelieving eyebrow for a few seconds, but saw that she was being sincere and nodded.

Curious, Autumn asked, "What planet are you from? I've never seen a species like you in xeno-studies."

"I'm from the planet Scienca Labo. One of a kind, here."

"That must suck," the owl said sympathetically.

The teen's face softened. "Just a bit."

There was a pause before Aine asked the inevitable question. "What's a young Thanagarian doing so far from Thanagar? Where're your parents?"

Autumn stared straight ahead. "Gone."

"...Oh. I'm sorry."

The owl shook her head. She knew now that she hated this awkward conversation topic. "Don't need to apologize. It's not like it was your fault."

"Mm." The teen eyes Autumn's feathers. "Owl?"

"Yup."

"You know humans don't have wings, right? You'll have to hide those."

The _smack _of a facepalm echoed around the cockpit. "Shoot. I'm an idiot."

"...Here, I'll be right back. Call me if something malfunctions."

The owl nodded and Aine got up, sorting through her living area before she straightened with an, "Ah-ha!"

The red-skinned teen walked back to her seat and Autumn was suddenly buried in fabric. As she fought her way out, Aine chuckled and said, "It's probably too big, but that should actually be useful in the end. I also doubt you have winter attire on you, so this should help."

Finally free, the owl held up the black trench coat that had previously covered her. She beamed, stood up and slid it on over her wings. "Thank you!"

"No prob."

The two chatted casually, exchanging Earth knowledge, until the pod hit atmosphere and Aine had to focus on not crashing.

It ended with slightly rough landing due to an odd amount of turbulence. After shaking hands with the teen (and mentally noting that Aine appeared to have a higher skin temperature than most beings), Autumn left the pod.

"Bye, Aine. Thanks again."

"You're welcome. Good luck."

"Hope I won't need it."

* * *

_I needed it, _Autumn thought, remembering that conversation eight months later.

Since her arrival on Earth, the girl had been living on the streets, hopping between cities at random. She was currently in Happy Harbor, banging her head against a mental wall for being so naïve. She had teamed up with a small group of homeless people she had been sticking with for the past few weeks. They had been trying to steal some food, but while she was hiding stuff, the store owner noticed and everyone just ran without a word, leaving her to run away alone.

It wasn't the first time this had happened, either. It was the first time she actually knew them a bit first.

Never again.

Six months and three cities later, and a random store owner handed her a banana, which she gratefully took.

Grateful, at least, until she started feeling dizzy and realized the darn thing was drugged. The girl fainted.

When she woke up, there were bars in front of her. Again.

_No, no, not again. What is it this time?_

Her hearing caught two men speaking together in Spanish. Glad for the distraction, she tried to translate. She didn't know much, but she caught "Venom," "the kid" and "experiment."

"Great."

There was a loud, pained roar at the end of the hall and Autumn jumped. _What is that?!_

Later, a teenage boy that she had seen on the streets was dragged down the hall to the cafe next to her. Autumn stared in horror at the unconscious boy's wounds, but, unable to do anything to help, she curled in the corner of the cage.

She dozed off and woke up to her cage being opened.

It was her turn.

A worker came in a handcuffed her hands behind her back, practically marching her down a long hall. Struggling was no use at all. She was brought into a room where there was a bed and more workers, then strapped to the bed. One person rolled up her sleeve, another prepped the area on her arm and the last came at her with a needle and a syringe of red liquid.

Autumn tried shying away, but to no use. She felt fear and frustration building and inadvertently let a scream let out.

Just like the one that had gotten her away from the mob.

_What the heck _is _that?!_

* * *

Rumors of an organization testing a new drug called Venom on the homeless of many cities, including Chicago, Gotham, Central and Happy Harbor, had reached the Justice League a week ago. After some intel-collecting, they were on the hunt. They knew the general location of the hideout, but some more up-close searching was required. Drug dealers or no, these guys were good.

Hawkwoman flew alongside Superman. Batman, the Flash and Martian Manhunter were in the BatPlane, searching another area, while Green Lantern and Hawkman were checking yet another. Black Canary was down below, carefully scouring any possible place.

Shayera scanned the ground again, but with no luck. She sighed. They didn't even really know what they were looking for, which understandably made it hard to find.

Without warning, a loud screech rent the air, coming from right beneath them. Hawkwoman covered her ears and Superman, whose super hearing amplified the sound, nearly stumbled out of flight.

Once recovered, Hawkwoman turned to the Kryptonian next to her. "That wasn't Black Canary."

Superman shook his head.

The former Thanagarian activated her comm. "We've got something. It's right below Superman and I," Hawkwoman said. "I'm going down to check it out." She directed her next sentence to the Kryptonian. "Watch my back."

"Be careful," Hawkman's voice filtered through the comm. A soft smile found its way to Hawkwoman's face as she went down.

Following the sound led her to a dilapidated farm house that looked like a twister had gone through it years ago. The screech had stopped, but it had been loudest right beneath her. There had to be something hidden here.

She moved aside furniture until she stepped on a floorboard that wobbled. Lifting it up, the winged heroine found an old, wooden ladder leading down into a dark pit. "Well, here goes nothing," she muttered.

There was a large, concrete tunnel at the bottom, dimly lit and littered with unconscious or recovering men and women. It must have been a noise to rival the Canary Cry to do that, and Hawkwoman was mildly apprehensive to meet the source.

With a deep breath, she continued down the tunnel.

* * *

Autumn lay chained to the table, panting. She had taken out the scientists in the room, but it was only a matter of time before they recovered or backup came.

She picked up the sound of footsteps running down the hall and glared at the metal door, awaiting the arrival of the mystery being. She knew she was helpless- chained up, weak, out of breath. But she refused to look the part.

The knob turned and caught on the lock, which confused the owl, especially when the typical sound of someone fumbling for their key card didn't follow. If they were another scientist, wouldn't they have a key card?

Whoever it was stopped trying the knob, and Autumn expected to hear the subtle squeal of a communicator and someone asking for access to the lab.

Instead, a loud metal-on-metal _boom _shook the door, leaving a large indent by the handle. It only took one more hit for the head of a mace to burst through. Someone stuck their arm in and groped around for the handle, quickly managing to open the door.

It swung open and crashed against the wall. In the opening stood a thin woman whose face was hidden under her helmet. She had red hair, a mace and wings. Autumn recognized her from the brief glimpses of the news she got when passing electronics shops.

_Hawkwoman. _She had heard of the team of heroes called the Justice League since arriving on Earth, when she saw Hawkwoman on the news playing on a store display TV, she become wary of her. It didn't take a xeno-genius to figure out that she was a Thanagarian. The owl stopped glaring, fearing the hawk wouldn't react well to it, and stayed stock still, barely breathing.

* * *

Shayera looked around, confused. She'd been expecting a fight from whoever- or whatever- made the noise, but all she saw was unconscious men in labcoats.

A syringe of dark red liquid by one of the men's hands caught her eye. Venom.

_Well, I'm in the right place, _she thought. _But if they had a sample of Venom in here, that means they were going to test it on someone..._

Hawkwoman looked up from the floor and to the lab table. There lay a tiny girl in a humongous trench coat, strapped on her back. Her tangled hair was all over her face, amber eyes trained on the Thanagarian. They were full of fear and a spark of something the hawk couldn't identify.

Shayera groaned inwardly. _Great, a child. _

_She's not good with children, _Autumn observed. The woman's face said it all.

"Hello," the hero started awkwardly.

Autumn just nodded.

"Did you hear that screeching noise?"

"Yep," the owl answered with a nod.

"Do you know who made it?"

A head shake followed an instant decision to lie. "Nope."

Shayera sighed. "Well, I better get you to your parents."

"What's the date?"

Confused slightly by the odd request, Hawkwoman nevertheless replied, "March 11th."

Autumn shot her a wry smile. "Then I haven't seen my parents in a little over a year."

"They abandoned you?"

"Not by choice, but I suppose you could say that."

"What about family?"

"Dead, missing or hate me."

"Friends?"

The younger just snorted.

The hawk was getting irritated now. "Where do you live?"

Autumn stared her straight in the eye. "Wherever I want, with viable and legal means of course."

Hawkwoman was shocked. "You're... Homeless?"

"Yup," the owl said, popping the P. "Now, uh, can you please get me out?"

"Y-yes, of course. Sorry." She cut through the straps and helped Autumn sit up, one hand gripping her arm and the other on her back.

Or rather, wing.

Her brow furrowed. "What's on your back?"

"Oh, nothing! Nothing at all!"

The older Thanagarian wasn't buying it. "Take off your coat."

"But-"

"Take it off."

The owl sighed and did as she was told.

"You're a Thanagarian," the hero stated.

"Yep."

"An owl."

"Yepperz."

"Runaway orphan?"

"Three for three. Now if you don't mind, I'm leaving now."

Autumn started to walk past the hawk, but her upper arm was grabbed. "You're the one who incapacitated all these men, aren't you?"

"...Maybe."

Shayera sighed. "Okay, you're coming with me."

She tried gently tugging the girl along, but she stood her ground. "Not without knowing where you're taking me, and not without the others."

The hawk paused. "Where are they?"

Autumn pointed down the hall. "Down that way."

Hawkwoman nodded and put a hand to her ear. "Hawkwoman here. Does anyone read me?"

"I hear you, Hawkwoman. What's your report?" Superman asked.

"I found the Venom dealers, as well as their test subjects. I also found the source of that screech we heard. I'm taking her to the Hall, but we need to get everyone else out. Lock on my GPS signal and meet me here with a few of the others."

"Acknowledged. I'll be right there."

"Hawkwoman out."

Shayera put her hand back down and noticed Autumn eyeing the unconscious men and women around them. "They won't stay like that forever, you know."

The elder nodded, "I realize this. What is your name?"

The owl gave her an analytical look, but answered. "People call me Autumn. And I suppose you won't tell me your name?"

"Correct."

"Figured."

Silence fell as the two stood there. Autumn looked up when she heard footsteps above them, gripping the staff in her pocket just a bit tighter. Hawkwoman looked at the girl, a little confused at her sudden alertness.

Soon after, she heard three pairs of footsteps echoing in the tunnel and remembered that owls have enhanced hearing.

_Of course._

The other heroes- the Flash, Superman, Hawkman and Martian Manhunter (who was floating), rounded the corner. The Martian was the first to see Autumn, and gestured to her. "Who is this?"

"She said her name is Autumn. She's from Thanagar, of the owl minority." The hawk turned to Clark. "She produced that screech."

The Kryptonian looked at the small girl in disbelief, who in turn attempted to look defiant by standing straighter and gazing steadily at him. At the same time, she tried to hide taking a step backwards. Neither worked very well. It was clear that she was frightened by the heroes towering over her.

Barry broke the silence, "So, we're taking her to the Hall?"

"Yes," Shayera replied. "We also need to free the other test subjects," she said the last two words with a degree of disgust towards their captors.

"Where are they?" The Martian asked.

Autumn pointed silently down the hall and the Flash took off in that direction, Superman following.

Hawkman started to go, then turned to the other two Thanagarians. "Hawkwoman, you take Autumn to the Hall. We'll take care of the prisoners."

With a curt nod, Hawkwoman started down the tunnel with Autumn at her heals.

Suddenly, the younger girl stopped and called after Martian Manhunter and Hawkman, "You need a card key!" She then jogged a few steps to catch up to the hawk, and the two made their way to the exit.

Once out of the tunnel, Hawkwoman activated her comm again. "Hawkwoman to Batman, I'm taking a young Thanagarian we found in the labs to the Hall of Justice. Superman, the Flash, Martian Manhunter and Hawkman are taking care of the other prisoners."

"Acknowledged."

Black Canary piped up, "Should one of us fly her there by plane, or is she following you?"

Hawkwoman brought her hand down from her ear and looked at the child. "Can you fly?"

Autumn scoffed. "Of course I can."

"Can I trust you to fly along with me, or do we need to take you by plane?"

The owl thought for a second, weighing her options. Take the chance to fly away and risk them going after her, get into a metal flying machine where she couldn't escape even if she wanted to, or follow along submissively and see where this led?

Wary as she was, curiosity pushed the younger to the last answer. "I'll go with you."

Hawkwoman nodded and answered Black Canary, "I think I can handle her."

"Okay. I'll meet you two at the Hall. Canary out."

Shayera ended the comm call and looked down at Autumn, who had taken off her coat. "Ready?"

"Ready."

The two took off and started for the Hall. Both were keeping a close eye on the other.

That night, Autumn and Black Canary were sitting across from each other in the library of the Hall. The younger had her head down, trying to hide the fact that she was tired. Past short naps that didn't help much at all, she hadn't gotten much sleep in her cage.

Canary began the conversation. "Autumn, I'm Black Canary, one of the heroes on the mission that found you."

The owl looked up and nodded.

"I just have to ask you some questions, and I need you to answer truthfully, okay?"

Another nod.

"Okay. How did you stop those men earlier?"

"I don't know."

"Has that screech ever happened before?"

"Once."

"And you don't know how it's triggered?"

"Not really."

"Right. That's something we should probably work on. It's possible that it's a fear response." Canary took a breath and changed directions. "What's your full name?"

The owl hesitated for a second. "Autumn Pines."

"And you're from Thanagar, right?"

"Yes."

"What made you come to Earth?"

A shrug. "Thanagar isn't a good place for owls," Autumn answered simply.

"How long have you been here?"

"Just over a year."

"Hawkwoman mentioned that you last saw your parents just over a year ago. Would you mind telling me where they are?"

"On Thanagar."

"Why didn't they come with you?"

Autumn had decided she was too tired to keep beating around the bush. The sooner they were done here, the sooner she could leave and find a relatively safe place to sleep. "Because they're dead," the owl responded bluntly, stony eyes gazing straight at the hero. The answer wasn't exactly hard to say. She'd had to repeat it several times on the streets; it had been expected anyway.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Autumn waved a hand. "It's fine." Why do people insist on apologizing when they find out? It's not necessary.

Silence hung in the air for a minute before Black Canary stood up. "That's enough for now. Stay here, I'll be right back."

The girl nodded and Canary left the room, looking for Hawkwoman and finding her quickly.

The hawk saw her, too. "What of the owl?"

"I think we should give her a chance. If nothing else, we could keep an eye on her."

"I agree. Who would she train under?"

"You."

The Thanagarian narrowed her eyes. "You know I know nothing about children. And due to her situation, it isn't a mere question of mentoring the girl, but taking care of her too."

"But you're both Thanagarians. You'd be most able to train her properly, and you'd have Katar's help."

There was no good way to argue that point, and Shayera reluctantly relented. "Fine. I'll take her."

Canary smiled and nodded. "Good. We should go tell her."

The heroines made their way to the library, then froze in their tracks. While they were gone, Autumn had decided to curl up in the chair she was left in and had fallen asleep. She looked like a kitten in an oversized trenchcoat.

"Should we let her sleep here?" Hawkwoman whispered.

Canary thought it through for a second. "Yes. I'm not sure how she would react to being woken and that chair must be more comfortable than anything she's slept on for a while. It's certainly big enough for her."

The hawk nodded and the two left, careful to not wake her.

Autumn woke up the next morning with her face squished into the cushion. She stayed in that position as she allowed herself to wake up and remember where she was. When the memories of the previous night flooded in, the girl jumped to her feet and looked around. Seeing the door closed, she ran towards it and tried to open it. It swung open easily, but the owl was stopped when she ran right into someone in the doorway.

"Sorry!" She squeaked. Having been knocked to the floor, Autumn gazed up to see who she hit and her gaze met none other than Shayera.

"You're awake, I see," the hawk stated. After a few moments, she awkwardly reached out a hand to help the girl, who eyed it warily before accepting the help.

"Thank you. For everything. Now, um, I better be on my way." She attempted to sidestep out the door.

The elder blocked her way. "Not so fast. The League has decided to take you in as a protégé, and have assigned me as your mentor. The final decision is up to you, of course, but it could be potentially beneficial for all of us if you stayed."

Autumn eyed the hawk. "What would be expected of me?"

"I'd train you and help develop crime-fighting skills. You'd help me with minor missions unrelated to the Justice League. Given your lack of stable housing, you'd also live with me and Hawkman and we would provide you with essentials."

"...Are there any other protégés in the League?"

"Yes."

"Would I be required to meet them?"

"Not until we know if you're staying or not."

Again, Autumn weighed the options. They could be trying to trick her into something; she had already fallen for something that week and wasn't keen to do so again. She could just refuse and go back to the streets, safe from them but susceptible to any number of other dangers. But assuming they were sincere, accepting could mean regular meals, a house, a bed and not having to either be on the look out or stay hidden. And she still only had her life to lose (fond of it as she was).

Hawkwoman waited while she made her decision, trying to hide her slight impatience. Finally, the girl looked up hesitantly and nodded. A second later, in an attempt to look more sure of herself, she straightened up and squared her shoulders. "I'll do it."

"Good. We should let the League know and then we can get you settled. You should also come up with a name for your alter-ego."

Autumn grimaced slightly. "I don't have to do something like Hawkgirl, do I?"

"No, you don't. Your name can be completely unrelated to mine."

Hiding a sigh of relief, the owl thought about it for a second, mentally shooting down ideas. Awkward silence pressed down on her and she turned to the heroine and asked, "Can I get back to you on that?"

"Yes, you can."

Later that day, the two were in the large, private backyard of Shayera and Katar's home in St. Roch. Hawkman had gotten caught up at the Watchtower, so he wasn't there. The hawk had showed Autumn around the fair-sized house after informing the League that she now had a protégé. Black Canary had been pleased.

The girl had been interested by several of the items in the house, and made mental notes to gradually go through her list of question throughout the next. However, she had been a tad distracted. As tended to happen when not fully engaged, her brain had wandered off on another problem during the tour and the solution had just hit her. "Mrs. Hol?" She asked, not quite comfortable enough yet to address the hawk by her first name as requested.

"Yes Autumn?"

"I think I've decided on my name."

Genuinely curious as to what the child had come up with, Shayera looked down. "And what would that be?"

The eleven year old looked up and smiled. "How does Screech Owl sound?"

* * *

_Fin_


End file.
